City of Johannesburg Municipal Council approves debt rehabilitation programme

The City of Johannesburg has approved a debt rehabilitation programme which aims to bring about a new approach to the increasing amount of debtors in the city.

According to MMC for Finance Funzela Ngobeni, Joburg residents have struggled to pay for municipal services and rates for years. “Several promises have been made, but in the absence of a proper mechanism to deal with the issue, consumer debt, has continued to rise.

“For years this situation has been left unmanaged and resulted in a large debtor’s book and an insurmountable debt burden on the purse of our residents, who are already stretched, and battling to keep abreast during these hard financial times.”

Ngobeni added that the City will be able to ensure that defaulting customers are brought back into good standing on their municipal accounts.

“The broad concept of the programme hinges on the application process that will allow for strained household owners to apply for municipal debt rehabilitation. Qualifying customers will receive immediate relief through a 50 per cent debt write-off. If the customer complies with all the requirements of the programme, which include keeping their current account up to date, and allowing for regular inspection of metered services, then the remaining outstanding debt will be written off over a three year period.”

According to the approved report, the criteria for the programme is:

• The write-off is only applicable to residential account holders.
• The account holder’s balance has to be in arrears for more than 90 days as of 30 June 2019
• The combined gross income from all activities of the account holder/s and spouse must be between R4 750 and R22 per month
• The market value of the property and all properties owned by the applicant must not exceed R600 000.

The MMC said the City will embark on educational roadshows during the month of August with the application process set to start in September.

Related article:

https://midrandreporter.co.za/114817/property-buyers-saddled-with-historical-municipal-debt/