City's warning to residents: Don't use unofficial 'runners' when seeking help at municipal offices
REVENUE COLLECTION UP
A legal battle looms for later this month over the City of Tshwane's special "cleansing" levy, where households not using the municipal bin services will face paying a special levy. Other than this challenge, things are looking positive for the City's drive to improve revenue collection and the management of finances that are key to service delivery.
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The City of Tshwane has warned residents not to pay officials or make use of unofficial “runners” when visiting its offices to attend to municipal accounts issues.
Pleased with the figures showing it successfully collected R40.5 billion in cash revenue for the 2024/25 financial year, achieving an “impressive” 98% of its funding plan target of R41.3 billion.
The City sent out a statement updating residents and thanking them for their contribution.
The City said June marked a record-breaking month with revenue collections reaching 106% of the monthly target. The City collected R3.671 billion, surpassing a target of R3.465 billion, further strengthening the City’s financial outlook.
Part of the success was attributed to the implementation of an incentive and amnesty campaign to help residents struggling with accounts payments running from March to May. Residents were assisted in settling their municipal accounts debts and regularising tampered meters and other services issues.
A total of 20,075 customers came forward to normalise their meters while 85,361 benefited from a R2.417 billion debt write-off. Additionally, 31,540 inactive accounts totalling R1.835 billion were cleared, and 1,076 customers with R154 million in debt entered into settlement agreements with the municipality.
“The City extends its sincere gratitude to all paying customers and stakeholders. Your commitment and support have directly contributed to these results and enabled the City to deliver reliable and quality services across all regions of Tshwane,” Deputy Executive Mayor Eugene Modise said in a statement.
He warned residents against the illegal use of services and tampering with infrastructure, which are criminal offences and undermine service delivery. Residents experiencing financial challenges were encouraged to visit the City to explore available assistance and payment options, but the City warned them against paying municipal employees and using unofficial “runners” for assistance.
Just over a month ago, Modise hailed the passing of the Metro’s first fully-funded budget in years as a “turning point” for the City’s finances and service delivery capabilities.
In the last financial year the City has been on a drive to turn around its finances – which were in a dire state due to theft and nonpayment for services and governance issues.
While revenue collection has improved, there are still some issues, including the controversial cleansing levy – part of the 2025/26 budget - that has been taken to court.