City of Joburg docks R7 million from councillor and worker salaries due to unpaid bills
A total receipt of R13.2 million has been collected from the City of Johannesburg councillors and permanent employees who were behind on their municipal bills.
The city said it deducted more than R7 million from the councillors and permanent employees’ salaries, and collected an additional R5.2 million from councillors and employees’ direct payments.
“In a clear demonstration that the city is serious about collecting the debt owed to it – even from its own employees – the city is aggressively enforcing relevant legislations and its Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy to collect the outstanding debt,” it said.
Out of a total of 13,323 employees who owe the city, about 140 are councillors and 13,183 are staff members.
Councillors collectively owe the city about R3.1 million in overdue municipal services, while the management – which includes levels like chief executives, heads of departments, directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, and supervisors amongst others – owes a combined R9.8 million.
The rest of the R76.3 million debt is owed by the rest made up of junior staff.
Kgamanyane Maphologela, Director of Customer Communications for the City’s Group Finance Department, said the city’s employees are expected to be the first ones to promote and implement basic principles of public administration.
“The credit control action that is taken by the city against its own employees is to demonstrate that we are coming after anyone who owes the city in unpaid municipal bills. It’s a firm demonstration that our Credit Control policy is enforced indiscriminately, including against our own employees, whom we expect to be exemplary in their conduct,” Maphologela said.
Maphologela added that many of the owing staff have since entered payment arrangements with the City.
According to Maphologela, the city had to be strict and apply the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 against those employees in arrears to the city with their municipal services.
Section 10 of Schedule 2 of the Act states that “a staff member of a municipality may not be in arrears to the municipality for rates and services for a period longer than three months, and a municipality may deduct any outstanding amounts from a staff member’s salary after this period.”
Maphologela said the city is doing all in its power to chase after municipal debt, as this heavily impacts service delivery.
In the coming weeks and months, the city said it would intensify its Credit Control drive in a bid to collect outstanding revenue from all different categories of property owners.
It encouraged all property owners who are struggling to service their accounts for various reasons, to approach the city to avoid being cut off by signing an AOD.
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