Could sabotage be behind Joburg's billing mess?

FOUL play is suspected in a computer glitch in the City of Joburg’s billing system. Picture: Supplied

FOUL play is suspected in a computer glitch in the City of Joburg’s billing system. Picture: Supplied

Published May 25, 2017

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FOUL play is suspected in a computer glitch in the City of Joburg’s billing system which has resulted in 412000 residents not receiving their April municipal accounts and a further 97000 receiving incorrect bills.

Because of this, a team of forensic investigators have been brought in to determine who is responsible for what the city believes may have been sabotage.

The Star’s Metrowatch has been inundated with complaints about incorrect accounts and the non-receipt of bills.

But residents have been warned that they will be receiving an additional account this month reflecting the correct amount owing, so they should not be concerned.

The city’s revenue department has reported a serious failure in its customer statement delivery system relating to these accounts.

This failure, said city mayor Herman Mashaba, had resulted in the inaccurate and missed accounts.

“This is an automated system that has never produced an error of this magnitude before. It is therefore suspected that the system was tampered with.

"I have issued an instruction within the city to engage with law enforcement agencies so as to investigate the cause of the failure,” he said.

As a city, Mashaba said, the revenue generated constituted 84% of the budget, and a delay in collecting revenue from this number of accounts could have “dire effects on our cash flow".

“Our ability to address the enormous service delivery backlogs which we have inherited depends almost entirely upon our success in collecting revenue.

"We are currently working to ensure that all accounts are issued during the course of this week, and that accounts which were issued incorrectly are rectified.

"This will result in certain households receiving two statements this month; we apologise for any confusion caused.

"Double billing is a historical issue in our city and we have plans in place to ensure that it is a thing of the past by the end of June,” said the mayor.

The city has appealed to all residents affected by this confusion to make payments based on the historical average billing of their accounts.

The city’s member of the mayoral committee for finance Rabelani Dagada, while delivering his 2017/18 budget speech this week, said the city was steadily improving its revenue collection, with a record R3bn collected during the month of March - well over the target of R2.6bn.

Dagada said he was confident that the city would reach a R4bn collection by the end of December.

Customers may also call Joburg Connect on 0860 Joburg (562 874) to enquire how much they owe.

Where customers require a copy of their account, they may visit their nearest customer service centre or call the city’s call centre on 011 375 5555.

@annacox

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