DA: Joburg billing queries to be sent to AG

FILE PHOTO: Adolf Kronfwsss breaks down about the City of Joburg ongoing billing crisis, during the hearing of National Consumer Commission (NCC) in Braamfontein Recreation Centre, Johannesburg. Picture:Itumeleng English

FILE PHOTO: Adolf Kronfwsss breaks down about the City of Joburg ongoing billing crisis, during the hearing of National Consumer Commission (NCC) in Braamfontein Recreation Centre, Johannesburg. Picture:Itumeleng English

Published Sep 9, 2012

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Johannesburg -

Over 3 000 unresolved Johannesburg billing queries that the Gauteng finance mayoral committee refused to accept last week, will be forwarded to the Auditor General, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.

DA finance spokesman Patrick Atkinson said the party would send spreadsheets and supporting documents available to the team auditing the city.

“The billing crisis and the defective financial data it (the City of Johannesburg) has produced have been at the heart of Johannesburg's failure to attain an unqualified audit over the past two years,” said Atkinson.

The city had been the worst performing of South Africa's nine metros in terms of the accuracy and reliability of its financial data, he said.

On Wednesday, the DA tried to hand over the unresolved billing queries to the committee, but member Geoffrey Makhubo refused to accept the documents.

His spokeswoman Zoleka Zide said that the city had a contract agreement with its customers, and as such the DA could not resolve queries on its behalf. The city was not going to give preferential treatment to any person or political organisation.

Atkinson said the customers had already unsuccessfully tried to resolve their queries a number of times.

“What made her comments even more curious is the fact that some queries date back to 2003, and how this can be construed that residents are jumping the queue is simply nonsensical.”

The DA would also send the information it had gathered on unresolved billing queries to the Public Protector and the National Consumer Council this week. - Sapa

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