The City of Tshwane says since they began their aggressive revenue collection campaign, companies have been taking them to court.
The City has been disconnecting services to customers whose accounts have been in arrears for more than three months. The City of Tshwane’s debtor’s book currently stands at over R17 billion.
Those that owe are mainly from government departments, embassies, businesses and residential customers.
Spokesperson Sipho Stuurman says they are using the courts to try to force the city to reconnect services while they dispute their bills.
“While a company may dispute the amount that is charged. This does not place the whole account in abeyance and does not allow for non-payment on the bill, nor does it allow for non-payment in future billing as well. What we have also noticed is that in an effort to maintain the status quo, some of these companies are now filing legal papers in order to try and use the courts to rule in their favour in the interim so that their services may be reconnected. We are prepared to defend our decisions to disconnect clients that have not been paying their accounts.”
[MEDIA STATEMENT] City of Tshwane teams preparing comprehensive legal response to companies that are challenging disconnections. #TshwaneYaTima #CoTRevenueCollection @tshwane_mayor pic.twitter.com/ZY7krY40zt
— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) February 11, 2022
#Thread #SheratonHotel On Wednesday the City of Tshwane disconnected the Sheraton Hotel electricity supply due to none payment of arrears of over R23 million that was owed to the City. An urgent application was submitted to the High Court by the Sheraton Hotel. #TshwaneYaTima pic.twitter.com/bNiB1OdlwJ
— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) February 11, 2022
