R3.2 billion outstanding revenue: Madibeng municipality ¬first checks accounts of mayor and staff
The Madibeng Local Municipality has embarked on a revenue collection drive to claw back the R3.2 billion it is owed. Mayor Douglas Maimane kicked o the process by checking his own compliance last week Monday.
Municipal employees will follow suit before residents are asked to do the same. Mayor Maimane was set to visit the municipality's revenue office to enquire about his municipal account and "if necessary, settle any outstanding amount".
Following this, Council Speaker Ditshego Mbezi and Chief Whip Elsie Kgautle would do the same. According to the Mayor's Spokesperson, Ikgomotseng Kotsokwane, members of the mayoral committee would follow suit on Monday afternoon. Kotsokwane said councillors would be expected to do the same from the 24th to the 31st of January 2023.
He added that those without municipal accounts and who reside in areas without rateable properties would be expected to sign fat rate forms and commit to monthly payments for water bills. The ¬financial struggles of the municipality came to a head in June 2022 when the Tshwane Municipality won a court bid to force Madibeng to pay the more than R250 million owed to the municipality for bulk water supply.
At the time, the mayor admitted that the municipality was in a bad financial position but said it was implementing measures to ¬x the issue. "The municipality could not collect revenue because of the historical challenges of providing service maintenance," Kotsokwane added.
He said overall, the municipality was owed R3.2 billion – R2.6 billion by residents and the rest by government departments and commercial properties. Kotsokwane said the issue was with the collection of revenue. He said: The municipality covers mostly rural areas, which affects revenue collection. We are waiting for officials to design a better billing system. The revenue collection drive is part of Operation Patela, announced last week.
Kotsokwane said the mayor was starting the process because "Before we go outside, the municipality to the community, we need to check the accounts of the MMCs and municipal employees. Then we will demand what belongs to the municipality going forward", Kotsokwane concluded.
