Monthly Archives: January 2011


Joburg: R300m not collected

Friday, January 28, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

The City of Johannesburg failed to collect about R300m in service charges in the first quarter of the 2010-2011 financial year, and officials have blamed Project Phakama for the bungle.

This comes barely a day after Amos Masondo, mayor of the biggest and richest municipality in the country, denied that the city was in the throes of a revenue collection and billing crisis.

Council documents reveal that for the period July to September last year, the city’s revenue and collections department failed to collect about R300-million in service charges owed to City Power, Pikitup and Joburg Water.

Now the city’s infrastructure and services oversight committee has asked the revenue and customer relations management department to provide it with a report on the “status-revenue collection, billing and related matters contributing to the decline in collections” in the three entities.

The report must also provide a “turnaround strategy devised to specifically correct the situation with regard to revenue collection and customer services”.

The committee has also recommended that the infrastructure and services department “must devise high-level interventions aimed at ensuring that billing information is provided to Pikitup, Joburg Water and City Power”.

Of Joburg Water, the documents, circulated in a council meeting held at the council chambers yesterday, said revenue for the quarter was R84-million below budget.

“It was reported that revenue collection had an adverse variance of 8.7%. This was attributed to the roll-out of Project Phakama.”

Of Pikitup, it was reported that “like other entities, Pikitup also collected less than expected revenue because of billing challenges linked to Project Phakama.

“It is reported that the overall operating revenue collected amounted to R262-million against the target of R288-million, resulting in a negative variance of R26-million.”

The same was reported of City Power. “Above all, the entity reported low collection levels with revenue on service charges being below budget by R189-million because of billing challenges.”

At the council meeting Democratic Alliance councillors took a swipe at Masondo, asking him to stop pretending there was no crisis. At a media conference on Wednesday, Masondo denied there was crisis.

Furious residents last week staged a sit-in at the municipal offices in Braamfontein, protesting against the chaos.

Also read what one of Mobilitate’s users has to say about the chaos at the land transfers department.

Credit to: Sipho Masono from Times Live

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Billing glitches not a sign of crisis: mayor

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ANC backs Joburg mayor

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

Gauteng ANC said mayor Amos Masondo is doing a “good job”. Read more here.

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Billing glitches not a sign of crisis: mayor

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo downplays the billing crisis. Read more here.

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Govt to tackle potholes

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2 Comments by Zelda

Government is set to launch a R150 million project in March this year to tackle road potholes, Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde announced on Tuesday.

“Our roads are in an undesirable state. Most of them have potholes,” she told a media briefing at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.

This announcement comes just before the local government elections, set to take place between April and June this year.

A substantial amount of issues logged on Mobilitate are related to potholes.

Speaking after a meeting with MECs, Mahlangu-Nkabinde said best practice from around the world was examined to develop technology to ensure the repairs would last.

She said the project would create about 14,000 jobs and would start in Sandton in March.

Asked whether the R150 million budget was enough to tackle the pothole problem around the country, the minister said the project was a start.

“We do understand that we need a lot of money, but we are saying let’s get started. We will never get anywhere if we wait for the millions needed.”

Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaced Geoff Doidge in President Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle last year.

Agrément SA, an agency established by the department to serve construction communities, brought together industry players to examine the current methods of filling potholes.

“There was no standard method… the industry got together and said let’s look at this.” said Agrément chief executive Joe Odhiambo.

A task team was formed to develop a “test method” to standardise the material used to fill potholes based on international best practice.

Odhiamo was confident that using approved products to fill potholes would have a lasting impact and alleviate the problem.

The department hopes to build low-cost bridges in four provinces — a project set to start next month.

“The floods have shown that the country needs more bridges,” she said.

Deputy-director general for special projects, Mandla Mabuza, said the department would partner with the defence force to build ten bridges in the Eastern Cape, ten in Limpopo, ten in Mpumalanga and ten in the North West.

The R30 million project would employ the youth from the area in which the bridges would be built for the construction work.

A third project to maintain and clean entry points into the country would also see youth from the surrounding areas employed. The project is set to cost R30 million.

Credit to: Times Live

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SARS might take over Joburg billing

Monday, January 24, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka is to hold crisis talks this week about the billing chaos besetting the country’s richest metro.

Shiceka has called Gauteng co-operative governance MEC Humphrey Memezi to a meeting to discuss the City of Johannesburg’s revenue shambles and its inability to send accurate accounts to tens of thousands of residents.

Shiceka also revealed yesterday that he was considering introducing legislation that would give the SA Revenue Service (SARS) control of billing, and collection of rates and services levies, for all municipalities.

“I’m looking at making a law that billing and revenue collection become a national matter to be taken care of by agencies like SARS,” he said.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay said it “was possible” for SARS to do the job but “we will need the relevant legislation to be in place first”.

Shiceka said he too had been a victim of Johannesburg’s billing chaos.

“The billing system in Johannesburg has been a serious problem. The situation there is not getting better … That situation can’t be left unattended.”

The City of Johannesburg runs on a budget of R28-billion.

Shiceka said he had asked for a meeting with Memezi.

“I will talk to him and I will take issues from there  and then I will engage with the city. They will probably have to submit a report on what’s going on down there,” he said.

The high-level meeting follows the city’s disconnection of the services of more than 41000 households – many of them reported to have received inaccurate and vastly inflated bills, often for tens of thousands of rands.

For the past year, the city has been unable to bill residents correctly because, it says, of the failure of its R580-million Project Phakama – an IT system which was intended to integrate all municipal services accounts into one billing database.

Instead, the system has been unable to process meter readings, resulting in residents being billed with estimates.

The billing chaos has also led to pre-paid water and electricity users receiving bills.

On Thursday, irate ratepayers staged a sit-in at the city’s revenue offices in Thuso House, Braamfontein.

DA councillor Dave Dewes has initiated a class-action lawsuit against city manager Mavela Dlamini, who will be sued for failing to perform his duties.

Dewes said yesterday that more than 40 people had joined the class action and have contributed about R35000 for legal costs. But they have to raise a further R25000 to secure the services of an advocate.

He said that next month the parties to the class action should be in a position to make their application to the Johannesburg High Court.

The DA’s city revenue spokesman, Patrick Atkinson, said Project Phakama was bound to have glitches.

“They are very complex systems and people have not been properly trained for the system. They are ill-prepared and we will have a revolt from taxpayers,” he said.

Last week, city revenue spokesman Stan Maphologela said it would take between six and 12 months to fix project Phakama.

But last year, mayoral committee member for finance Parks Tau promised that all billing problems would be resolved by November.

Maphologela did not respond to calls for comment yesterday.

A consultant who deals with City of Johannesburg billing problems for lawyers and the general public recently spoke to Mobilitate about this crisis.

According to Sue Beford the problems are vast – far greater than being mentioned in the media.

“One instance, City of Johannesburg are no longer issuing refunds while they do an audit on account transfers from the old to new billing system.

“Advising customers to take legal action is pointless. The City of Johannesburg do not pitch up in court and totally ignore court orders.  I believe COJ are in a position where they are actually unable to fix the problems, they have dug themselves into a huge hole and are unable to get out of it.”

Mobilitate has received endless complaints about billing issues Johannesburg. Subsequently it has created the Billing crisis in Joburg- Resident Unite cause. To support this cause go here.

Also read:

Prepaid meters on the cards for Joburg

Joburg billing crisis still not resolved

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Official fired for 13 charges

Monday, January 24, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

A senior official in the Msunduzi municipality (Pietermaritzburg) has been fired after being found guilty of 13 counts of gross mismanagement, maladministration and corruption by an inquiry set up by the co-operative governance department.

MEC Nomusa Dube, announcing the dismissal of Kenny Chetty, manager of processes, community services and safety and security at Msunduzi last week, said criminal charges and civil recovery procedures might also be launched against other officials of the municipality who had resigned.

Chetty was suspended by Johann Mettler, who was appointed administrator of the municipality, in May 2010.

More than 10 other senior officials are on suspension and the subject of an investigation, as part of the process of cleaning up the municipality.

Msunduzi was taken over by the provincial government in March 2010 after complaints of administrative chaos and corruption. Mettler was appointed to head the cash-strapped municipality and to act against officials implicated in wrongdoing.

High-ranking officials, including the mayor, Zanele Hlatshwayo, were sacked, while municipal manager Rob Haswell resigned. A new executive under mayor Mike Tarr was installed in May 2010.

The province has also intervened at three other municipalities – Indaka (Estcourt), Ukhahlamba (Bergville) and Umhlabuyalingana (far northern KZN).
Announcing Chetty’s expulsion last week, Dube said that the department’s programme to restore Msunduzi to “its former glory” as a respectable capital city of kwaZulu-Natal was well on course.

“Today we have taken a decision to fire one of the officials who was found guilty of contributing to the collapse of governance and administration in this municipality,” she said.

Dube said Chetty had been found guilty on 13 counts including irregular, fruitless and unauthorised expenditure.

She said disciplinary hearings were also pending against other Msunduzi officials on suspension, including chief financial officer Roy Bridgemohan, Francis Grantham, procurement head Kevin Perumal and human resources and community services head Zwe Hulane.

“We expect every official from the Msunduzi municipality to look after the interests of the municipality and to comply with all regulations aimed at promoting good and clean governance… We are waging a real war against maladministration, mismanagement and corruption in Msunduzi.”

Dube said her department was “combat ready” to get rid of all “bad elements” who had disgraced Pietermaritzburg and that incompetence, maladministration and corruption would not be tolerated.

She also expressed satisfaction with the turnaround achieved at the municipality.

Credit to: The Mercury via Independent Online

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Pollution threat after floods

Friday, January 21, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

The National Water Forum (NWF) on Thursday voiced concern over the pollutive effect of the recent flooding on the country’s water supply.

NWF national chairperson Louis Meintjies said that in Gauteng, acid mine water levels rose quickly because of the rain and that the acid water had now affected a wider area, with the water pollution spreading.

“The downpours may have diluted the concentration of heavy metals in polluted water but it certainly did not allow contaminants to dissolve,” he said.

Meintjies warned that several sewage plants were flooded due to the heavy rains and that raw sewage had ended up in the water systems.

“Farmers have to take note of the possibility of the outbreak of fungi and diseases spread by the contaminated water on farm lands,” he said.

Water Affairs ministry spokesperson Mandla Mathebula acknowledged that the floods had the potential of contaminating the water.

“We did anticipate cases of flooding and as a result of that we have a team that is looking at that situation,” he said,

“We don’t think we will have that problem of contamination, we are guarding against that.”

Experts from the department were put on high alert to ensure that the country’s water supply remained safe, Mathebula said.

Credit: Sapa and News 24

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More wet weather next week

Friday, January 21, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

As municipalities and disaster management services around the country struggled this week to assess the damage caused by floods that claimed 41 lives, the SA Weather Services says there will be little respite from the deluge.

Forecaster Mark Todd yesterday said a severe weather alert for heavy rainfall and thunderstorms will be effective in the Eastern Cape from today.

“On Sunday, the wet weather will shift to Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal ,” said Todd.

Heavy rainfall is only expected in Gauteng again from Sunday.

The Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal provinces were some of the worst affected by Monday’s flooding, with an initial estimate of R300-million damage to infrastructure, homes and farmland in KwaZulu-Natal, and R150-million in the Eastern Cape.

In North West, the damage has been estimated at around R80-million, and R50-million in the Northern Cape.

On Monday, 33 municipalities in eight provinces were declared disaster areas, including Gauteng’s three metros, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

Tshwane officials yesterday visited all low-lying bridges in the Centurion area, where emergency services remain on high alert.

City spokesman Console Tleane said that even though “the rivers remain full, no floods have occurred since Monday”.

Meanwhile, insurance company Santam says damage to “homes, property, vehicles and the loss of revenue from damaged agricultural crops caused by recent floods is expected to run well into the multi-million rand mark”.

Credit to: News 24

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Promotion of all Kungwini officials halted

Friday, January 21, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

The ANC-controlled council of the Kungwini local municipality (which includes Bronkhorstspruit, surrounds and parts of Pretoria East) on Wednesday temporarily halted plans to promote all officials by one post level.

This could have cost taxpayers a once-off R25m (working backward from July 1 2007) and over R2m per month.

A document in which this plan is suggested would have been discussed on Thursday at a special council meeting, but has been referred back to management.

According to Beeld ANC members in Kungwini are worried about losing support among officials belonging to municipal union Samwu.

Kungwini and Imatu, the other large municipal union, reached an agreement about the promotion suggested in the council document.

“The ANC members are fighting for survival now that the municipality will be included in Tshwane, and they can’t afford to fall out of favour with Samwu right now,” a senior council said.

Kungwini will be included in the Tshwane metro council when municipal elections are held.

Kungwini has frequently been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The council’s debt with Rand Water resulted in thousands of residents in the east of Pretoria having no water supply for two days.

The residents had to go to court to have their water supply restored.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how this issue is handled, since Kungwini is legally compelled to promote Imatu members, as was agreed during negotiations.”

Fred Nel, DA spokesperson for Gauteng, said it’s time for Kungwini to be placed under administration.

“The council [Kungwini] gets constant financial and technical support from the province, but it continues to make bad decisions.”

Nel said Kungwini is on the verge of a financial disaster and can’t afford such a short-sighted decision.

“It will leave Tshwane [once Kungwini has been incorporated] with significantly higher salary expenditure,” Nel warned.

The Kungwini municipality could not be reached for comment.

Credit to: Beeld (Cobus Claassen) and News 24

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Kungwini has water again

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Murders more common in rural areas

Thursday, January 20, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Murders are more prevalent in the rural areas of South Africa, according to a study by the South African Institute for Race Relations.

The study compares 46 district municipalities and six metropolitan municipalities using four serious crime categories: murder, aggravated robbery, sexual offences and drug-related crime.

Cacadu district in Eastern Cape has the highest number of murders with a rate of 73 per 100,000 people.

“A person in South Africa is likely to be murdered in the Cacadu district municipality of Eastern Cape, sexually assaulted in the Xhariep district of Free State, violently robbed personally or at their business premises in the City of Johannesburg, and is most vulnerable to attack if they own a home in the Metsweding district of Gauteng,” the SAIRR said.

The people who are most prone to be victims of murder crimes are males between the ages of 18 to 34.

“In general, violence against persons is more prevalent in rural areas while offenders in urban areas seemed more preoccupied with the violent appropriation of material possessions,” the SAIRR’s Kerwin Lebone said.

The City of Johannesburg had the highest rates of aggravated and business robberies and the second highest rate of residential robbery after the Metsweding municipality.

More than 47,289 cases of robbery with aggravating circumstances were reported from March 2009 to April 2010, along with 20,107 cases of common robbery.

Credit to: The Sowetan

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