More defaulting customers and Sars left in dark after failure to pay municipal accounts

More defaulting customers and Sars left in dark after failure to pay municipal accounts

THE City of Tshwane’s ongoing revenue-collection campaign this week targeted the SA Revenue Service (Sars) in Pretoria by cutting off its electricity from the grid for owing R838 000 in unpaid municipal bills.

For hours the building housing the tax collector in the inner-city was plunged into darkness.

However, on Tuesday evening the City announced on X that Sars managed to settle its overdue municipal account in full and that it was subsequently reconnected to the grid.

On its X account, the City said: “When you think we are here for a refund … Boom, your lights are off. #SARS owes us 838k #TshwaneYaTima.”

One of the City’s X messages remarked that the coming tax season “is going to be ruff (rough). The tax collector is also in debt.”

The Public Investment Corporation also found itself in trouble with the City due to unpaid bills amounting to R710 741.

“When you focus too much on the stock market and don’t (pay) your bills. Public Investment Corporation disconnected for non-payment,” the City said on X.

On Monday, Tshwane Deputy Mayor Nasiphi Moya was part of the team in the CBD where 10 clients were disconnected from the grid for unpaid municipal bills.

“What is disheartening is how many disconnections we are doing for tenants where the landlords have been reckless and not paying their bills.

“All we are asking is that all account holders in Tshwane, please, if you are owing contact us and make arrangements,”she said.

Yesterday, Finance MMC Jacqui Uys reiterated that those who can’t afford to pay should apply for the indigent programme to receive 100 units of free electricity and 12 kilolitres of water every month.

“The City has an indigent programme where we provide free basic services to those who are really in need,” she said.

The indigent programme beneficiaries can be living anywhere in the City, but their household income should be less than two social grants combined, according to Uys.

“The property needs to be in the name of that person applying and that person needs to live at the property unless it is a guardian who is applying for somebody else. The person who is applying needs to be a South African citizen and needs to be over the age of 18,” she said.

“Once certain assessments have been done and the application accepted, the City would place a beneficiary on the programme for a period of two years. After two years you need to apply again,” Uys said.

Through the #TshwaneYaTima revenue-collection campaign, the City aims to recoup R23.3 billion it is owed by defaulting customers, that include businesses, government entities and various communities.

Uys recently said: “The current rate of collections will see us collecting R500 million of the R1 billion monthly stretched target as per the financial rescue plan, bringing cash collections for March to about R3.5 billion.”

Pretoria News

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