Major own goal hits 1.5 million homeowners in South Africa’s richest province
Another outage of the City of Johannesburg’s electronic billing and payments platform has triggered a major administrative own goal affecting roughly 1.5 million municipal accounts.
The outage has caused property transfers across the metro to hit a near standstill. Attorneys, bond originators and homeowners say the outage has effectively frozen the property market.
This is because the city can no longer issue the clearance figures and certificates required to legally transfer property.
This is the feedback from Cor Van Deventer, Director at VDM Incorporated, who said the consequences have been immediate and widespread.
“The result is that thousands of homebuyers and sellers are unable to progress with their property transactions, and clients are becoming increasingly frustrated,” he said.
Hannah Van Deventer, Director at Phoenix Bonds, added that a significant portion of the city’s 1.5 million accounts are affected, with payments failing to reflect and transfer documentation unable to be finalised.
“These transactions are particularly time-sensitive, with downtime meaning delayed move-in dates, extended occupational rent, and financial commitments that can no longer align with the original transfer timelines,” she said.
Because conveyancing depends entirely on the city’s electronic billing platform, there is no manual workaround. When the system goes down, every step of the process stops simultaneously.
“No figures can be issued, no certificates can be generated, no progress can be made, and no one can assist manually because it’s an electronic system,” she said.
Independent reports noted that the city’s SAP billing platform had again failed, preventing the processing of millions of rand in payments.
The outage has directly affected the property sector because clearance figures rely on accurate and up-to-date municipal billing data.
The reports indicated that the municipality’s two core billing systems were offline and customer service centres had stopped accepting payments.
It also found that payments made over a two-week period were not reflected on municipal accounts or on the e-services portal.
Only option for affected residents is patience
According to Van Deventer, the failure stems from the city’s attempt to consolidate all billing into a single platform.
“Joburg City’s original intention was to create a single, unified system for all billing functions. Instead, as the reporting shows, the SAP / Phakama Project has suffered repeated failures,” he said.
Along with the immediate property transfer backlog, the incident has raised broader concerns about governance and transparency within the municipality.
Van Deventer said the billing collapse also comes at a particularly difficult time for residents already dealing with service delivery problems.
“The latest system failure is unfolding at the same time that residents are facing a widespread water crisis,” he said.
For families preparing to move into new homes, the financial impact can be severe. Buyers may have to continue paying rent while also covering bond costs, while sellers face delayed payouts from property sales.
Professionals involved in the process have said that they’re unable to accelerate matters even when all paperwork is ready.
“As conveyancers, we understand how disruptive these delays are for families who are ready to move, ready to transfer, and financially committed to timelines that now can’t be met,” Van Deventer said.
“What I want clients to know is that their matters are not being neglected. The moment the city’s system is restored, every file will move forward immediately.”
Hannah Van Deventer said the only option for affected residents is patience, even as the backlog grows.
“With no manual workaround option available, the backlog is growing daily, but all we can do is wait for the city’s system to be restored,” she said.
“The delays are not caused by conveyancers, bond originators, or rates consultants—what we can do, however, is share updates and fact-checked information as soon as it becomes available.”
City of Johannesburg responds
The City’s Group Finance Director: Communications and Stakeholder Management, Kgamanyane Maphologela, confirms that clearance applications continue to be processed within the standard turnaround time of 30 days.
“We confirm that both online and manual processes remain fully operational. The portrayal of a total system collapse affecting the entire property market is inaccurate and constitutes irresponsible journalism,” said Maphologela.
Importantly, the City is among the few municipalities nationally that provide dual submission channels – both online and manual – for key processes such as clearance figures and clearance certificates. This built-in contingency mechanism ensures continuity of services even during technical disruptions.
Operational Performance Data
The City’s records demonstrate continued functionality and processing capacity:
1 – 17 February 2026
- 2,649 clearance figures applications received (1 058 online)
- 1,852 clearance certificates issued
January 2026
- 4,894 clearance figures applications received (online and manual)
- 4,686 processed
- 2,962 clearance certificate applications received
- 2,946 issued within 24 hours of proof of payment
During the first (July – September) and second (October – November) quarters of the 2025/26 financial year, the City issued over 10,000 clearance certificates in each quarter. These figures clearly demonstrate sustained service delivery capacity, including during periods of elevated demand.
The City maintains structured quarterly engagements with conveyancing stakeholders, including the Johannesburg Attorneys Association, to ensure transparency, responsiveness, and continuous service improvement. These platforms enable collaborative resolution of operational challenges and regular information sharing.
Maphologela further cautioned against the circulation of unverified claims.
“Assertions that 1.5 million accounts are frozen, that no manual processes exist, and that transfers have completely halted are inaccurate and unnecessarily alarm residents. Such claims undermine confidence in municipal systems without a factual basis,” he said.
The City acknowledges that temporary system disruptions may cause frustration for residents and professionals operating within time-sensitive property transactions. However, public commentary must reflect verified facts and contextual data.
The City remains committed to service stability, system modernisation, transparent communication and constructive engagement with all stakeholders.
Residents and stakeholders are encouraged to rely on official City communication platforms for verified information and to engage directly with the City for clarification on processes.
Update: The article has been updated to include the response of the CoJ to the outage of the city’s electronic billing and payments platform, as outlined by VDM Incorporated
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