Johannesburg - The City of Joburg’s Group Finance Department has gone on a vigorous drive to retrieve monies owed to the municipality from the rich, starting in the northern suburbs in Sandton.
While the municipality is struggling to stay financially afloat, The Star understands that residents and businesses owe more than R43 billion in unpaid rates and services.
Residential properties account for about 32.1% of the debtor’s book as of September 2022 and business account for about 8.2% of the debtor’s book as of September 2022
The Star has learnt that Ensemble Hotel Holdings in Sandton is one of the major defaulters owing the municipality millions. The company owns a range of hotels and other properties in South Africa’s richest square mile.
The municipality this week has cut water supply to a complex in Sandown owned by the hotel group. It is alleged that the water had been cut because other services such as sewerage and water removal were not being paid for.
A spokesperson for the city’s Group Finance Department, Kgamanyane Maphologela told The Star that there were defaulters across all the seven regions of the city for different services, be it rates, electricity or water. He said the city was striving to recover debt from all regions, including Sandton.
“Credit Control and Debt Policy stipulates: “If the outstanding amount is not paid and/or the Acknowledgement of Debt is not entered into within the stipulated period, electricity may be disconnected and water restricted (throttled) without further notice.”.
Maphologela said the City of Joburg’s Group Finance Department continuously implements its Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy to recover debt owed by customers.
As part of the credit control initiative, the City collects debt owed by both residential and business customers.
He said it must be noted that the termination of services was often the last resort after the City had on multiple occasions tried to communicate with the customer regarding the outstanding debt.
“In the event that the customer fails to pay the full amount due on or before the due date, the unpaid amount is deemed to be arrears. A pre-termination notice and/or Final Demand notice shall be issued and may be hand delivered or delivered in conjunction with the services invoice, or shall be delivered by electronic means, to the most recent recorded address, electronic contact address and/or number of the customer,” reads the policy,” he said.
In a response to The Star, Ensemble Hotel Holdings denied that it owed the municipality across all their properties.
The Star