“It is clear to me that the City of Johanessburg is progressively starting to reap the rewards of Operation #BuyaMthetho, which aims to bring back the rule of law in our City,” said City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, councillor Herman Mashaba.
According to Mashaba, since the launch of the project, the City has collected a total of R341 million. Operation #BuyaMthetho ensures that residents don’t bear the brunt of defaulting ratepayers who continue to brazenly defy the law. The operation is integral to rooting out the lawlessness that compromises the livelihoods of residents of this City.
Recently, Absa Bank voluntarily came forward to correct the under-billing on one of its properties, indicating that the R600 000 electricity bill for one of their buildings appeared to be too low.
“In 2010, the bank applied to City Power for their supply to the building to be increased from a domestic to a large scale power user with a higher voltage transformer. Upon installing the new supply and meter, the City continued to erroneously bill the bank on the previously installed domestic meter,” said Mashaba.
Apparently, when City Power technicians investigated the supply, it came to light that the meter that Absa was being billed on was supplying nearby domestic users. Following this, the bank and the City have agreed to a settlement amount of R100 million on the electricity bill. Going forward, the City will ensure that the bank is correctly billed for services rendered to it.
“I would like to thank Absa Bank for voluntarily coming forward to correct the matter with the City.
If we are to build a society based on the rule of law, every resident and business must do its part in upholding and following the law. In this regard, Absa Bank has set a positive example which I hope others will follow,” he added.
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