The Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is now closely monitoring and exercising closer oversight on the City of Johannesburg as part of its intervention on the recent problems of the Johannesburg City Billing System which were widely covered in the media a month ago.
This was one of the resolutions Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Humphrey Mmemezi, highlighted when he handed in his report to Acting CoGTA Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, at the ministry in Cape Town today.
The report comes after MEC Mmemezi was asked to investigate the causes of the problems of the system, what the City of Johannesburg was doing to resolve them and to also report on the situation of the Billing Systems in other Gauteng municipalities in general.
MEC Mmemezi’s report to Minister Mthethwa gave the background and nature of the problem, an action plan by the City to resolve them and clearly showed a marked improvement since the intervention.
The report showed 12 problem areas investigated, action taken to resolve them, the department or entity responsible for resolving them, the time-lines the resolution was expected to take and the impact of those actions on the customers.
The MEC reported on the actions the City had taken on the issues of incorrect stand and physical addresses, exorbitant billing amounts, deeds transfers that were not updated on the billing system, estimated metres, wrongly printed statements, incorrectcut-offs and other problems that had caused an uproar among Johannesburg residents.
The report further included progress the office of MEC Mmemezi had achieved on the 81 queries that had been received by his office from the Public Protector regarding the Johannesburg City billing system problems. It was reported that 70 per cent of the queries received had been resolved.
“Based on the report submitted by MEC Mmemezi’s office, the Ministry is confident that the issues are being resolved. Again, as government we would like to reiterate our apology for any inconvenience caused and appeal to residents of Johannesburg to work with the City in resolving any outstanding matters,” Minister Mthethwa said.
For any other enquiries regarding the event please contact:
Vuyelwa Qinga (Ministerial media liaison)
Tel: 012 334 0993
Cell: 082 877 3898
Acting Minister Nathi Mthethwa receives report on Jo'burg billing problems from MEC Mmemezi
