Opposition parties calling for a review of Ekurhuleni billing system

JOHANNESBURG - Opposition parties in the Ekurhuleni council are calling for a review of the city’s billing system after it was manipulated to charge households and business much less for electricity.

The tempering of the metro’s automated meter reading system led to R2 billion in revenue losses in the first quarter of the current financial year.

This is because thousands of households had their outstanding balances drastically reduced while others had their arrear accounts completely wiped out.

Eyewitness News can reveal that the Ekurhuleni council has decided during a private meeting that the city’s chief information officer, Moloko Monyepao, must be held accountable for the billing crisis.

Ekurhuleni’s chief information officer must now explain to the city manager why he shouldn’t be suspended after allegedly failing to monitor the city's billing system.

With electricity accounting for 40% of Ekurhleni's total revenue, the metro said the negligence in his department had cost the city a huge chunk of its projected money.

DA councillor in the city, Fana Nkosi, said although the responsible city officials must account, the billing system shouldn't be easily tampered with in the first place.

"It's a serious matter that mustn't be taken lightly. It jeopardizes service delivery and those who are able to pay their accounts, how can they trust the city’s credibility in terms of billing?" said Nkosi.

ActionSA councillor Malesela Dolo argued that the heads of the energy and finance departments should also be called to account, as they too failed to detect the manipulation of the system.