Pan’s rotting fish conundrum
CITY Power is embarking on an aggressive drive to collect outstanding debt from its customers across the City of Joburg.
This, however, has left many residents angry after watching mayor Geoff Makhubo joining the march to Eskom to demand a write-off of debt and a flat rate of R150 a month.
Makhubo also came under attack at the monthly council meeting.
The EFF and the DA said if Makhubo was supporting this flat rate in Soweto, then he must do the same for all the Joburg communities.
The DA said Makhubo was contradicting Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s user-pay principle.
It is said Soweto owes the parastatal R18 billion.
City Power is owed about R4.9bn by customers, including large corporates, government departments, and ordinary citizens who used electricity without paying for it.
“Revenue collection impacts heavily on the sustainability of our business and is a key focus area – every cent counts. Without this revenue, we cannot invest in the necessary infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
“Our revenue enhancement plan will actively engage those customers who owe us money and focus on recovering that debt. We will take action to motivate behavioural change, and having done so, we will not then apologise for cutting power supply,” said chief executive Lerato Setshedi.
More than 37 000 accounts are in default with City Power. Among them are 480 large users such as manufacturing and mines; 10 400 businesses and 104 government departments, including schools, hospitals, some essential services, and departmental offices; and more than 26 600 outstanding residential accounts.
“We are asking customers to come forward voluntarily and settle their debts or make an arrangement to do so. We will be reaching out, engaging citizens, business forums and councillors about this campaign so they understand the link between our revenue collection and normalisation of services. If we are forced to disconnect customers due to non-payment, there will be fees associated with reconnections, including upfront payments,” Setshedi added.
“The revenue collection function is centralised at the City of Joburg, and this campaign is City Power’s effort to assist especially with our customers who owe or illegally use electricity.”
The campaign will also focus strongly on illegal connections which contribute immensely to the revenue losses for the city.
However, Sandton resident Jason West said this was ironic after witnessing the mayor marching with those who are refusing to pay Eskom.
“This has set a bad precedent when the leader of the city encourages writeoffs and flat rates,” he said.
For more information on how to pay an outstanding electricity bill or make an arrangement to do so, visit the City of Johannesburg website www.eservices.joburg.org.za or any of the multi-purpose centres in the regions.
IN RESPONSE to the article in Metrowatch (February 28) about a large number of dead fish appearing at Wemmer Pan, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) said it was working with the city’s environment, infrastructure and services department (EISD) to ensure that an integrated report was tabled.
In the meantime, said JCPZ spokesperson Jenny Moodley, the entity was investigating the cause and source of the problem and was working on a consolidated report to identify the root cause of the pollution.
The collection of carcasses – a number of interventions have been implemented in this regard and these will continue until such time as it can be confirmed that all carcasses have been removed from the pan.
While it is difficult to give actual numbers of carcasses that have been removed, the team has removed more than 100 carcasses of fish and some other dead animals.
The area adjacent to the rowing club was cordoned off by JCPZ on February 11 and will remain cordoned off until the clean-up process has been completed. The JCPZ is also in the process of appointing a service provider to assist with the retrieval, transportation and proper disposal of the carcasses.
The entity has also enlisted the help of the Joburg Zoo’s veterinary hospital team, for tissue sampling from the carcasses. This will help in identifying the actual pollutants. Post clean-up and multi-stakeholder engagements will be held to discuss the causes of pollution, possible law enforcement interventions and planning for possible future incidents, which was recommended in a detailed interim report produced by JCPZ.
A follow-up on the progress of this engagement will be conducted and an update will be provided as soon as there are any new developments. The park and the area around the dam has been cordoned off. The recent rains have also helped to contain the odour caused by rotting carcasses.
“Thankfully, JCPZ has also found a substantial decrease in the number of fish being killed. Businesses and residents in the area are urged to be extra vigilant in the disposing of waste. Some business entities did apply to discharge their grey water into the city’s sewer system, however the concern is that there might be incidents of this water being discharged into the city’s stormwater channels, resulting in Wemmer Pan experiencing high levels of pollutants,” she said. Reports of non-compliance can be directed to 0860JOBURG or email trees@jhbcityparks.com