Tshwane cuts off SARS due to unpaid bills

 ·16 Apr 2024

The City of Tshwane has cut off the power to a Pretoria office used by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) over R838,000 in unpaid electricity bills.

In a social media post on Tuesday (16 April) morning, the city wrote “when you think we are here for a refund… BOOM, your lights are off. #SARS owes us 838 k #TshwaneYaTima.”

“A Department of Public Works account, which is for the building that houses SARS situated at the corner of Lillian Ngoyi and Francis Baard was disconnected this morning due to non-payment,” said MMC of finance in the city, Jacqui Uys.

“All debtors in the City of Tshwane are treated the same and if there is non-payment, then credit control should follow,” she added.

Tshwane Ya Tima is a municipal revenue-collection programme aimed at recouping some of the city’s mounting losses, partly as a result of unpaid service charges.

The municipality, which has been embroiled in financial woes, and is struggling to pay millions of rands to contractors, suppliers, workers, etc. on time, reactivated the campaign hoping to collect at least a quarter of the R23.3 billion owed to the city by its customers by mid-year.

The campaign has previously shown no fear or favour when going after defaulters, having targetted government buildings in the past, as well as cutting off businesses and residential estates that owed it millions.

Along with the disconnections, the City also imposes steep fines for meter tampering and illegal connections.

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said that the campaign hopes to pounce on over 1,000 arrear consumers, whose debts amount to more than R6 billion and are collectable.

“Tshwane has a commitment to our residents to restore our tax administration, collect our debtors book, and in turn delivery quality services,” concluded Uys.


Read: Tshwane’s plan to save itself from the brink of financial collapse

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