Citizens desperate and tired of empty promises

couple decided to start with the query from the beginning and visited the valuation department in Braamfontein.

“We discovered a copy of our invoice and an amount of R49 087 was reflecting in the property taxes section. We showed the original invoice reflecting R3 060 and the agent told us he would have to log a query with the ‘back office’ and gave us another reference number.” He told the couple the matter would take three months to resolve. “We continued the monthly calls to the billing department but to no avail.”

In August 2015, in sheer desperation, the couple contacted the ombudsman. “On February 18 last year, we received an e-mail advising the query had been forwarded to the assessment team. On March 18, we were further advised it had been referred to the revenue department for a ‘comprehensive response’. “On April 28, we were advised a request had been made to the rates de p a r t - ment to assist with a journal/ recon for the adjustment done on our account. In May last year, we received our invoice from the council showing an amount of R6 487 had been written off.”

The next month the couple received their August invoice, only to find that instead of crediting their account with the R47 909, they had debited it showing that they owed R102 952.

“We are now in February 2017 and have sold our house and neither the council, nor the ombudsman, can actually get this matter finalised. The ombudsman has requested we attend a meeting on February 28 to resolve this matter. What for?”

But the story has a happy ending. Charmaine received a communication yesterday to say the problem had been resolved. “I am pleased to announce we have finally had our query resolved by the council and ombudsman. They have reversed the amounts and it will reflect on our March statement.

“A miracle five years later! It’s a godsend to be clear of this problem after so many years,” she said. THE City of Joburg has appealed to communities to be patient in terms of delays in the allocation of completed housing units.

The city’s member of the mayoral committee ( MMC) of housing, Mzobanzi Ntuli, said that as citizens, department members are gravely concerned about the long-standing delays caused by lack of proper infrastructure such as electricity installations in some projects, and the programme of making housing waiting lists transparent to the people of Joburg.

“Our department is currently working hard to prepare a housing list that is going to be made public.

“Each person needs to know his or her status in terms of the list,” Ntuli explains.

The department has committed itself to make certain that all completed units are allocated between February 2017 and June 2017.

“Our people are becoming desperate and have had enough of the empty words that have failed to provide refuge.

“Therefore, as the government of the day, we wish to state unreservedly we cannot change the mistakes that have been made in the past, but we can certainly learn from them and ensure we ramp up our programmes to improve the lives of South Africans and live up to the imperative – business unusual,” Ntuli concluded.