Mamelodi pensioners hit with R1.9m municipal bill
Mystery charges confound elderly
Two Mamelodi pensioners are having sleepless nights after they were slapped with a combined R1.9m bill for rates and taxes as Tshwane municipality struggles to recoup R17bn it is owed by both businesses and households.
Dumishi Masemola, 69, of Section R owes R1,263,876 for her three-bedroom house she shares with her three children and seven grandchildren, while Jerry Anonymous, 77, is R766,557 in arrears.
Sowetan learnt about their plight during a visit by officials from the SA Local Government Association (Salga) who had gone to the area on Wednesday to educate residents about the importance of paying their municipal bills. During the meeting, most residents expressed their frustrations with the municipality, claiming that their bills were not being explained to them when they made enquiries, leading to many of them withholding payment.
Others said the municipality was not deserving of their hard-earned money because they were not getting basic services.
Two weeks ago Masemola received a letter of demand from the City of Tshwane stating that she must pay R10,653 per month or settle the bill to avoid being cut off.
Masemola said she does not understand how her municipal bill reached that amount. The former domestic worker who gets a social grant of R1,980 per month said she simply could not afford to pay her bill. Her late husband tried to solve the issue of the bill from 2007 when it stood at R40,000. When he died in 2014, she inherited arrears of more than R700,000.
“The bill had been increasing since my husband was alive, but even he did not understand how it got to that amount and when he tried to enquire he would come back with no answers,” she said.
By 2019 their bill had reached more than R900,000.
“We paid between R800 to R1,200 on a good month, but the debt just kept going up.”
Sometimes using her social grant or with the help of her two daughters who work in retail and earn a joint income of R10,000, she is still able to pay an average of R800 per month.
But this is not what the metro is willing to accept.
On her monthly statement a rate called “miscellaneous charges” accounts for most of her bill.
“I have been trying to get an explanation how this amount was reached, history on how we got here. All I am told is that I have to pay.
“This is causing me sleepless nights because we can’t pay this amount.”
Only two weeks ago the pensioner was advised to apply for an indigent programme that gives pensioners discounts on their rates and taxes and is still waiting for a response.
Another pensioner, Anonymous, who has been living in his house in Section Q since 1976, had been a committed payer until Tshwane “started taking advantage of me”.
Anonymous stopped paying in 2017 when unexplained amounts would be added.
“At first my rates would be between R1,200 to R1,500 and I would pay regularly. But then it started gradually increasing to R2,000 The next thing it was R5,000.
“Around 2012 my bill was around R80,000 and when I went to the municipal offices to find out what exactly they have been charging me for, noone could give me answers. So I stopped paying.
“My statement is not detailed. I don’t how they got to the figures they got to and to this day no-one is able to explain that to me. So why should I pay?”
In May, Anonymous received a message from the municipality that he should pay R766,557.
“This means I am expected to pay R16,000 a month. Where will that come from?
“I am only willing to pay if the city offers me what I have wanted all these years, an explanation of my bill.”
Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the city has various platforms where customers can access their statements and these included via email, a visit to the council’s customer centres to get a hardcopy and through an SMS.
He says there are avenues that constrained customers can use to address their bills.
“They can apply to be registered for POP (poorest of the poor) should the income in the household be equivalent to two state pensions. In an instance where their income is above POP threshold, they can apply for leniency to the affordability assessment committee, who will then recommend to the council to consider waiving a portion of the debt,” Bokaba said.
Salga’s COO Lance Joel said the culture of nonpayment was influenced by various factors.
“There is a combination of things that must happen and the starting point is to firstly ensure that municipalities provide services in a sustainable way. Parallel to that is to say to communities in order for municipalities to continue to provide these services, pay for what you are receiving,” said Joel.