Do not ignore demand letters: ELM
"It forms part of a mandatory collection process to reach out to customers that the municipality is unable to engage with telephonically.”
SEDIBENG.- The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has warned residents not to ignore the demand letters that it has sent out to residents.
Residents, in particular those in Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark, who are in arrears of their rates and taxes have been receiving the letters of demand urging payment. The letters are being issued by the Ntiyiso Consulting Group on behalf of the municipality.
Sedibeng Ster enquired about the letters and ELM said that it is guided by the Credit Control, Debt Collection and Customer Care Policy that provides a framework through which it can implement executive and legislative authority for credit control and debt collection.
“This means that the municipality can explicitly certify that the letters are legit. It forms part of a mandatory collection process to reach out to customers that the municipality is unable to engage with telephonically,” said the ELM.
The letters are also sent to customers who fail to honour payment arrangements as per commitment to the municipality.
“The system functions by alerting customers who have debts that are more than 90 days in arrears. Customers are then afforded a specified period to approach the municipality to enter a payment arrangement. Our primary objective is to ensure that all monies due and payable to the municipality are collected and utilised to render services in the best interest of the consumers.”
Meanwhile, Sedibeng Ster reported earlier this month that ELM Ward 15 Councillor Prudence Hlanyane, who is also the DA’s Regional Chairperson, said that she has mixed feelings about the letters because ELM has not been providing the residents of Vereeniging with any service.
“The municipality has been doing the community a disservice as they have not been providing any service to them. My advice is that residents must apply for indigency if the household income is less than R6 100. They must also apply for rebates for pensioners who don’t qualify for indigency. The other thing that the residents can do is to lodge a dispute with the municipality [about the huge amount of money that appear on the letters, and submit their readings via the WhatsApp line to ensure that they are billed correctly,” Hlanyane said.
