Ratepayers operating under a civic organisation, called Lotus Gardens, Atteridgeville, and Saulsville Civic Association, have called on the City of Tshwane to write off their outstanding municipal bills on the grounds that they are mostly inaccurate and fabricated.
This was expressed during a march to Tshwane House, where disgruntled residents gathered to hand over their memorandum of demands to a representative from Mayor Cilliers Brink’s office.
They converged at Marabastad old bus depot in the morning before departing to municipal headquarters on Madiba Street, escorted by the SAPS and metro police officers.
They loudly chanted songs and denounced the City’s inaccurate billing on their way to their destination.
Their leader, Tshepo Mahlangu, said residents wanted council Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana to play his oversight role. They demanded that a report crafted last year in August for the purpose of writing off residents’ debts be tabled in council.
He said the move to cancel debts should benefit all residents, not only those living in Hammanskraal.
He was referring to a recent announcement by MMC for Utilities, Themba Fosi, who said the City had taken a decision to scrap historic debt associated with the recently audited water meters in the township.
Fosi said the cancellation of debts in Hammanskraal would give residents an opportunity to start afresh with new potable tap water expected to be supplied from September by Magalies Water Package Plant.
ActionSA hailed the decision as a crucial recognition of the hardships they faced when they were provided with dirty water for decades.
Mahlangu said: “Not only in Hammanskraal, but we want all the residents to enjoy that benefit of a write-off, because there is a report which is deliberately withheld by this arrogant mayoral committee (Mayco).”
He emphasised that residents would like to see the Mayco report seeing the light of day.
“The only venue where debts are written off is during council sitting and not at the parks and not during outreach programmes. The only way in which they can write off our debts is through a motion tabled in council,” he added.
According to him, the report related to debt cancellation has been deliberately withheld by Mayco since August 1, 2023.
He said the march was not for grandstanding or a move to destabilise the City.
In January the civic organisation held a similar march at Tshwane House, joined by political parties such as Xiluva and Pan Africanist Congress, to lament the poor state of service delivery.
At the time, their complaints centred on the inaccurate municipal billing for rates and taxes, which they claimed were often inflated.
Pretoria News