Pay to Play winner will settle mom’s account
A WINNER in Nelson Mandela Bay’s Pay to Play competition, which encourages residents to pay their municipal bills, will use some of the cash to settle her mother’s municipal account.
Kwamagxaki resident Constance Ngeni, 53, won R10 000 yesterday as she had ensured her bill had been paid up in full since December.
“I have a debit order for my account. You will also find that sometimes my account has been paid in advance,” she said.
“I hope this campaign will motivate more people from Port Elizabeth to pay their accounts on time.”
Ngeni said some of the money would be used to pay off her 86year-old mother’s account, which was R2 000 in arrears.
Another 11 residents won either R5 000 or R10 000 for being good ratepayers.
Thousands of names were selected but only 12 winners were randomly drawn at the Port Elizabeth City Hall yesterday.
Budget and treasury political head Retief Odendaal said the municipality had already seen a significant increase in the collection rate, which now stood at 93.1%.
“A few weeks ago we selected a couple of finalists for the categories for the R5 000 winners and the R10 000 winners,” he said.
“This initiative is the first of its kind in the country whereby people who have kept their accounts up to date and those who were in arrears and made arrangements to pay were entered into the competition to win.”
The 12 winners stand a chance to win a Chevrolet Spark in July.
Revenue management and customer care director Mbuzeli Nogqala said: “It is refreshing to recognise those who are making an effort towards the sustainability of the municipality from a financial point of view.”