NEWLY elected Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has just joined the likes of the Tshwane mayor by blowing the whistle on alleged faulty practices that were ignored by the ANC government when he revealed to the media this morning that the Gauteng government owes Joburg over R250 million in outstanding rates.
He wrote: “Today, I will write to the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, giving his government 30 days to either pay the R259-million or enter an acceptable repayment agreement with the City, as any other defaulting resident is expected to do.
“Failure to do so will result in the City taking immediate action – where possible – cutting services to defaulting departments. We urge the defaulting departments to urgently comply within this time frame so that such action will not be necessary.
“This lack of discipline by the provincial government is unacceptable. How can ordinary residents be expected to pay their bills when government departments do not?”
According to Mashaba, the departments’ guilty of failing to meet their rates payments are: Department of Infrastructure and Development (R161-million); Department of Human Settlements (R39-million) and Department of Health (R59-million).
“These provincial government departments, who budget for rates and taxes, have not paid their dues to the City for a long time. One has to ask what has happened to their budget which would have been set aside for this purpose?” asked Mashaba.
According to Mashaba, this debt owed to the people of Johannesburg has clearly accumulated over time and it is disgraceful that the previous ANC-led administration allowed the ANC-run provincial government to get away with this for so long.
This amounts to hundreds of millions of rand worth of lost opportunities to improve service delivery to the people of this City, especially those in the poorest communities.
Informing the media, Mashaba wrote: “Shamefully, the previous ANC administration in our City led a campaign of harassing ordinary residents for outstanding rates payments. In some cases services were cut-off, while the City allowed its own party’s office bearers in the provincial government to get away with stealing from the residents of this City.
“The politically connected were protected while the ordinary person on the street was neglected and harassed. I have a clear message to give to Premier Makhura and his government: From today, you will not receive free lunches in the City of Joburg any longer. Pay up or face the consequences.
“I would like to thank our coalition partners and the EFF for their agreement with our stance: there will be no special treatment under the new administration in Johannesburg,” said Mashaba.
COURIER has asked for comment from the premier’s office.
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