Tshwane’s plan to collect R1bn every month

The City of Tshwane has a R1 billion rescue plan to save the capital by intensifying the “Tshwane ya Tima” campaign to try and collect over a billion rands of debt each month.

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said the city had an advantage of a R23.3 billion debtors’ book that they aim to turn into cash.

“We have set a bold goal for the city’s financial performance. There is simply no other way to unlock the needed resources and drive performance,” he said.

“We want to increase revenue and reduce expenditure in the range of R1 billion a month in the next six months. If a quarter of this debtor’s book is collectable, it is collectable in the next six months. If we succeed, we improve our cash flow, our Eskom account as well as our credibility and creditworthiness.

“This also buys us the time to fix problems with tariffs and to achieve better value for money in supply chain management.”

Brink said if they failed, the city would have to make several fundamental changes to the way it delivered services by the end of June 2024, when a new budget must be adopted. “The city’s tariffs do not cover our expenses to deliver services, in part because those costs are too high.

“Our costs are, in turn, affected by factors like the productivity and compensation of our employees and the value we receive from tenders. Of the total consumers of the city’s services, too few are being metered due to defective meters and illegal connections.

“Of those whose consumption is being metered, too few receive accurate bills or have their disputes resolved in time. Of the total who are being billed, too few pay their bills, because our credit control and debt collection system is ineffective.”

Brink said because the city had a major problem with illegal connections and meter tampering, a new Tshwane Metro Police Department unit was being established to help with focused attacks on illegal connections.

The city will also be rolling out smart prepaid metering and sharpening up credit control and debt collection. “Tshwane ya Tima will be rolled out with even more intensity than in the past.

“We will update our credit control and debt collection toolbox, including issuing summonses and taking properties in the execution of judgment debt. Our focus will be on the top 1 000 consumers but as we work through the backlog, we’ll also become stricter on other consumers,” he said.

Brink said the city made three fundamental changes in the past few months, including the appointment of a chief financial officer and new management in two critical divisions of supply chain and revenue.