Dispute resolved, Joburg back on line

THE City of Joburg’s billing and email systems, off-line for more than a week, are up and running again and residents will once more be receiving their bills timeously.

However, the call centre, through which complaints are logged, remains down for the next few weeks.

This breakdown of internet services was not related to the October 24 cyber attack on the city’s systems, said mayor Herman Mashaba.

It appears there was a dispute between Dimension Data and the city over contractual obligations.

“Following the rigorous work undertaken by our IT department to get to the bottom of the cyberattack, I can confidently state that our systems have now been fully restored and it will soon be business as usual for the

City of Johannesburg,” Mashaba said.

However, he admitted, the city experienced a “few” challenges regarding the distribution of statements on November 5.

This was due to a contractual dispute between the city and its internet service provider (ISP), Dimension Data, which led to the suspension of all its network-dependent applications.

“It must be noted, however, that this dispute with the service provider had nothing to do with the recent cyberattack on the city’s network. We have now reached a settlement with the ISP and all services have been restored, except the city’s call centre, which will take slightly longer due to the system upgrading process,” he said.

In the meantime, customers are urged to continue paying their bills via alternative means such as EFT, EasyPay outlets or post offices.