ANC, mayors meet over billing crisis
2011-02-02 11:27
Johannesburg - The ANC in Gauteng will meet the province's seven mayors on Thursday to discuss the widely-publicised billing crisis and service delivery complaints, a spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.
"They will meet on Thursday," ANC Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said.
The meeting, ahead of the first round of voter registration for the forthcoming local government elections, will take place in Johannesburg.
Last week Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo said there was "no crisis" in billing for rates and utilities in the country's economic hub.
However, many of the city's customers disagree, after receiving exorbitant bills that don't reflect true consumption, and unfair disconnections.
Ntuli said the ANC agreed there was no crisis because they have a 95% "pay rate", with only around five percent not paying.
But they agree that there are "a few glitches in the system" where officials are not doing their job.
"For example, the system will tell you if a person has been wrongly billed and it must be investigated, but the officials continue to bill the people. So, it's a man-made problem, not a system problem and the leadership will deal with that."
Action would be taken against offending officials.
"A crisis is something of an intensive propensity, of great proportionality like a tsunami that you cannot resolve. But this one can be resolved," he said.
- SAPA
