A pat on the back for City of Joburg

Reading your article “Pay back our money” (September 8), it was refreshing to learn that the City of Johannesburg’s credit system has potentially saved new property buyers hundreds of millions of rands in historical debt.

Joburg was the only municipality out of 257 not facing possible billions of rands in litigation from property owners who had paid a historical debt.

This follows the landmark Constitutional Court ruling that homeowners are no longer liable to pay historical debt.

Municipalities across the country increasingly find it difficult to collect debt from consumers on a regular basis.

This is because of the high number of consumers who default on their monthly payments, the unfavourable economic enviWhen ronment, illegal electricity and water connections, an increasing number of consumers applying for indigence schemes, etc.

All these factors force municipalities to come up with innovative credit control mechanisms. Municipalities are required to do more with less, but the demand for services is growing daily.

The city has put in place effective credit control systems that also seek to protect the rights of the new property buyers.

In terms of Section 96 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, No 32 of 2000, municipalities are obliged to collect monies payable to them in respect of property rates and taxes and provision of municipal services. In compliance with its statutory obligations, the city has a strict mandate to collect all outstanding debts on a property when sold.

The city has a specialised firm of attorneys and consultants to ensure all collections are concluded before the property is transferred to the buyer. Stanley Maphologela

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