The City escaped a total service delivery shutdown during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown mainly because of ratepayers who kept their municipal accounts up to date.
The MMC for Finance, Cllr Jolidee Matongo says when the lockdown began in March, the City was able to stretch the revenue already collected before the pandemic to continue service delivery.
However, the municipality barely managed to prolong the balancing act after recording a significant under-collection of revenue of up to R2.9-billion during lockdown levels 5 and 4.
“The City battled to ensure that residents were supplied with the bare minimum of basic services that included running water, electricity, and waste management, which were essential to mitigate the spread of Covid-19,” Cllr Matongo explains.
Other municipal services such as credit control measures were deemed as non-essential and had to be suspended, and some budgets redirected to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in Johannesburg communities.
One of the greatest impacts of Covid-19, the MMC says was the financial devastation that saw many ratepayers unable to pay their municipal bills, while the City was also unable to pass the 2020/21 Budget on time due to the lockdown.
“As a result, the continued supply of water and electricity, as well as waste collection services across Johannesburg communities was placed at risk,” he says.
MMC Matongo says the City’s 2020/21 budget is mostly made up of revenue collected from municipal services rendered, grants and municipal taxes. However, with revenue collection still at a low, continuous service delivery is still at risk, and therefore requires that ratepayers who can afford to pay, do so.
Residents who can no longer afford to pay their full municipal bills are encouraged to enter into payment arrangements to avoid their services being cut off.
“The City has had to resume revenue collection efforts, which includes full credit control measures. This will see services being cut off for ratepayers with outstanding accounts,” Cllr Matongo notes.
He says the City will waive 100% of interest previously charged should the account-holder settle their account in full. The City also offers a reduced payment requirement when a ratepayer enters a payment arrangement with a 10% down payment.
Ratepayers are encouraged not to ignore pre-termination notices, but to rather take advantage of the credit-control assistance being offered and avoid being cut off municipal services. Account-holders who need to enter into a payment arrangement or sign an acknowledgement of debt agreement may send their requests to creditcontrol@joburg.org.za or visit their nearest Customer Service Centre.
