Pretoria – Johannesburg residents with long-standing queries on their billing accounts are to receive substantial discounts, if they meet certain requirements.
Delivering the State of the City Address on Wednesday, Mayor Amos Masondo said authorities had listened to and heard issues raised by residents and were now in a position to offer “favourable settlement arrangements.”
The City’s Mayoral Committee decided on 3 March that residents with billing queries between 90 days and 12 months will receive a 25 percent discount, while those for 12 months and older will receive a 50 percent discount.
Masondo said these discounts will only apply in the case of residents who have lodged queries with the City’s Revenue department. “This query must be resolved before a write-off can occur and the discounts become effective, as there is no intention to create any credit balances,” he said.
The consumer must pay in full or make an arrangement to pay all amounts outstanding over 90 days by 30 June 2011, in order to qualify for the write-off.
Consumers must provide the City with an identity number, a verifiable physical address, postal address, e-mail address and cell phone or land line number.
“Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the inconvenience caused to Johannesburg residents and citizens by our new billing system. We commit to work diligently and to do everything possible to correct the situation and resolve every single outstanding query,” said Masondo.
He further said the City has introduced a number of measures to become “customer-centered” and to improve the quality of service at offices and call-centres dealing with billing issues.
On the fight against climate change, Masondo said Johannesburg’s initiatives to create a green and sustainable urban environment have been very successful.
“The impact of global warming is already visible in Johannesburg ... we have all witnessed the changing rainfall patterns and the devastating floods leaving a heavy impact on especially the poor, as well as on the City’s infrastructure,” Masondo said.
Some of the progress made to “green” Johannesburg include the planting of more than 203 400 trees against a target of 200 000, clearing of more than 8 000 ha of alien vegetation through Working for Water and City Parks, while the City also supported 770 households with climate proofing in Cosmo City, including the installation of solar heaters and ceiling insulation.
He also welcomed the national government’s interventions to address the imminent threats to the environment posed by acid mines. In his budget address, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced Treasury will be making a budget allocation towards the mitigation of the crisis. – BuaNews
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