Municipal accounts still a matter of concern

Consumers of municipal services in the city are up in arms about faulty accounts and Polokwane Observer is inundated with calls from irate residents who claim that they do not receive any statements and have little if any success when attempting to communicate with the municipality.
“We cannot tolerate this standard of service any more. Telephone lines are always engaged and we just do not have the time to join the long queues to be able to see an official face to face and have the problems that are caused by the municipality’s incompetent staff, rectified. It is totally unacceptable that there are so many problems with accounts,” a disgruntled consumer said.
Meters that are not read, inaccurate recording of consumption and calculation errors seem to be the main areas of concern and residents claim that they are paying their dues and should therefore expect a high standard of service. “If there are so many complaints, the municipality should either employ more staff to deal with the queries or see that it does not occur in the first instance,” another resident reckoned.
Simon Shokane, Manager Revenue and Customer Care of the municipality, responded and explained that the municipality has
89 000 consumer accounts and that there are challenges experienced with about 14 000 or 15,7% of the accounts. “A high number of the meters are not accessible because premises are locked or there are vicious dogs. Some metres are faulty and not reported, while others are old and have to be replaced. We employed a full time team to replace meters that are not readable and trust that this problem will be something of the past in the near future,” Shokane said and added that officials from the municipality do spot checks to monitor the readings of the appointed contractors and that consumers are welcome to request that special readings of their meters be done in the case of discrepancies.
“In cases where consumers claimed that their meters are not read, we even spray painted the meters to show that the readers were there,” Shokane said.
Tidimalo Chuene, Communications and Marketing Manager of the municipality, said that the municipality has policies in place to assist consumers that have problems with their accounts. “We cannot assist if we are not aware and there is provision for the write-off of debts under certain conditions, arrangements to pay off debts in arrears and also indigent support available. If defaulters are silent, there is no other option, they are handed over to debt collectors and will be treated in terms of applicable legislation,” Chuene advised.
Shokane stated that the municipality is eager to foster healthy relationships with its clients and that information is conveyed by means of e-mails and SMSs and newsletters. “Lots of information are reflected on accounts to enable consumers to track their consumption and payments. We are currently negotiating with the SA Post Office to enable consumers to make payments there and a number of retail outlets and easy pay facilities are available where payments can be made,” he informed.
Enquiries from consumers that are not satisfactorily addressed by the available officials, may be escalated to Suzanne Malan, Assistant Manager Collections or Joseph Mashitisho, Assistant Manager Billing and Customer Care on 083 571 5964 or 083 668 0005 respectively.

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com