Ekurhuleni's Dlabathi concerned by reluctance of households, businesses to regularly settle municipal bills

JOHANNESBURG - Ekurhuleni Finance MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi has voiced concern over the reluctance of households and businesses to regularly settle their municipal bills.

Dlabathi highlighted on Wednesday that the city is owed over R25 billion in rates and taxes.

In response, the metro has decided to ease the financial burden on residents by offering qualifying households a 70% write-off on their overdue accounts.

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 According to the City of Ekurhuleni's budget, the metro makes about R22 billion from the sale of electricity, R8 billion from property rates and R6 billion from water revenue.

Dlabathi said that it was concerning that a significant portion of the city's revenue was lost due to households that did not pay their municipal bills.

"There has been a culture of not wanting to pay and there was a missing voice to convince people to pay for services to the extent that they must understand that when they pay for services, we reinvest back into the provision of water, sanitation, waste collection and providing the free basic electricity to some extent."

Dlabathi said that the previous administration failed to improve the city’s revenue collection mechanisms, leading to an increasing number of residents defaulting on their monthly payments.