City of Tshwane to intensify efforts to recover the billions it is owed

TSHWANE - The City of Tshwane said it would be doubling down on efforts to recover billions of rands owed to it, as it attempts to clean up its finances.

The cash-strapped metro is battling an empty purse, impacting on the ability to keep up with service delivery to over four million residents.

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The problem at the City of Tshwane can be simplified as tariffs that don’t cover the municipality’s exorbitant expenses.

An empty kitty means the city is unable to keep up with bulk purchases from Eskom and Rand Water, impacting on service delivery.

Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink said the city would ramp up its credit control and debt collection, as well as reduce its bulk and overhead expenses in a bid to manage costs downwards.

"Our strategy will be to gear Tshwane’s operations, Tshwane Ya Tima, and other measures that we haven’t used before, such as suing and taking properties and execution of judgement debt."

In the short term, Tshwane wants to increase revenue and reduce expenditure in the range of a billion rand in the next six months.