Up in arms: Johannesburg residents march to the office of mayor Mpho Phalatse to demand an overhaul of the city’s billing system and the restoration of services to those who have had them cut off. (Oupa Nkosi)
When 66-year-old Ruby Williams received a letter from the City of Johannesburg on April 21, her life changed. It was a pre-termination notice warning Williams that her municipal services would be cut-off within 14 days if she did not pay her arrears in full or make prior arrangements to pay over a period of time.
The letter was hand delivered and left hanging at the gate of her home in Klipspruit West, south west of Johannesburg. While reading it, Williams developed difficulty in breathing and had to sit down in shock over the amount demanded.
“She put the letter in a cupboard and tried to forget about it. The amount was about R1.2- million and ever since then she has never been well,” says her daughter, Meagan van Rooyen, sitting in a lounge with a black and white photograph of her mother hanging on the wall.
Williams had lived for years with diabetes and high blood pressure, but after receiving the city council letter she developed chest pains, Van Rooyen says. Twelve days later her mother died of a heart attack.
“It’s very sad because the bill is actually higher than the market value of this house,” Van Rooyen says of the now vastly improved two bedroom house which was a tiny matchbox size when her parents, now both dead, first moved in during the early 1980s.
“The City of Johannesburg is targeting more elderly people,” says the self-employed mother of two who moved back home after her mother’s passing. As the beneficiary, Van Rooyen is not in a financial position to repay the monumental debt, but is willing to bargain with the city.
Johannesburg residents demand an overhaul of the city’s billing system. (Oupa Nkosi)
Billing system slammed
The city council has for years come under fire over its billing system, with accusations ranging from overbilling to not sending account statements to ratepayers on time.
In 2010 the city launched Programme Phakama, aimed at ensuring better functionality in metered services, billing, collections, customer services and payments through a single call centre operation. The initial cost of the programme was estimated at R250 million but the budget escalated to around R 580 million amid charges of corruption.
In 2017 the city revised its module to billing per region, a process which “assisted with reducing customer complaints from a backlog of over 100 000 to only 4 500 currently”, according to council spokesperson Kgamanyane Maphologela.
But despite these so-called improvement in billing, 67-year-old Connie Engel owes the city over R50 000 and does not understand why, when she lives alone. Engel receives two different statements addressed to both Leiklip Avenue and Turkoois Street in Eldorado Park.
Her old age grant of R1 890 is usually depleted before it gets into her bank account because of deductions to service her debt. Her family has to help out with food and transport money for her monthly check ups for Crohn’s disease.
“At least if they could take some money off and they say I pay R300 a month then I know how much I need to budget for,” says the distressed former clerical officer who now struggles to sleep.
Maphologela says pensioners already receive a multitude of rebates and free basic services from the municipality, adding; “These include a 100% rebate on property rates for customers older than 75 years and other rebates based on age above 60”.
Mohamed Fakir, 61, moved out of his house in Lenasia South while he and his estranged wife were in the process of getting a divorce. After the court settlement he moved back in with his new wife Remila Naidoo, who is originally from Lesotho.
She has still not acquired South African citizenship even though the couple has been married for 19 years. In 2019, when they eventually got the title deed registered in their names, they were slapped with three pre-termination notices from the city.
“What I don’t understand is why we have three different accounts. One is in my name and the other in my ex-wife’s name but what surprises me is that the third one is in Remila’s name even though she is not a South African citizen yet,” says the unemployed father of three who owes more than R300,000 in total.
Connie Engel (left) and Meagan van Rooyen (right) are affected citizens. (Oupa Nkosi)
Communities take city to court
The Mail & Guardian sent the city council specific questions regarding Williams, Engels and Fakir’s cases but was rebuffed, with the council citing privacy confidentiality around its contractual arrangements with customers.
“Based on the above explanation and the POPI (Protection of Personal Information) Act, the City would like to reserve the right to comment regarding any questions involving customers personal details as per the information you have,” it said.
The Local Development and Economic Civil Association (LDECA) is an non-governmental organisation that represents affected communities in Eldorado Park, Klipspruit West, Orange Farm, Ennerdale, Ridgeway, Riverlea, Lenasia, Lenasia South, Noordgesig, Turffontein, Rossettenville and Florida and in 2020 took the city to court over allegations of metre tampering and overbilling.
“People’s rights have been violated. The city has failed to tell the people in the pre-termination letter what exactly they are going to cut; either water and electricity or rates and tax,” LDECA chairperson Majiet Amien said from his office in Eldorado Park.
Stacks of billing copies from complainants piled on his desk illustrate the large numbers of community members that come to Amien and his team for assistance.
LDECA wants the city to give customers three final notices and put those in debt on a rehabilitation programme which would grant them a discount on what they owe in return for paying up.
The city disagrees, insisting that its debt rehabilitation drive which ended on June 30, was intended for specific qualifying financially distressed consumers whose debt was written off.
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