Angry residents of Tshwane including senior citizens took their frustration and anger to the capital city streets on Thursday by marching peacefully to Tshwane House to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the city of Tshwane.
Residents are calling for an urgent scrapping of estimated municipality bill and better service.
Residents also demand cancellation of notorious Tshwane Ya Tima campaign, urgent fixing of Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant.
The peaceful march started at Old Marabastad depot ended at Tshwane House.
The march was joined by Soweto Parliament members.
Senior citizens sing, dance and held placard written “where is our POP and away with estimated bills.
Residents brought their final demand letters which were planning to give MMC Sutton, but he left before they could give him.
They gave city of Tshwane 2 days to respond to the memorandum.
An official from the office of the mayor Willie Venter was assign to collect the memorandum.
The marches were led by residents of Tshwane together with LASCA members and Soweto Parliament members.
LASCA president Tshepo Mahlangu told the Tshwane Talks that we got a clear mandate and that the residents of Tshwane demand immediate scrapping of estimated bills and provision of services in a sustainable manner as enshrined in the constitution.
We had been repeatedly complained about fraudulent letters of demands sent to defaulting customers by people masquerading as municipal officials wanting to extort money from residents.
Residents must avoid calls from the debt collectors who are tricking them to make arrangements of erroneous bills.
“We want Tshwane municipality not to disconnect services until our demands are met.
City of Tshwane must not only cancel the Hammanskraal debts but also Tshwane as a whole.
Tshwane House is a crime scene and all of the councilors have failed the residents of Tshwane,” Mahlangu said.
He said revenue collection campaign called #TshwaneYaTima, targeting customers whose municipal bills were in arrears to be stopped immediately in townships.
We want municipality to write off of estimated erroneous debts and residents are being tricked into footing the wrong bills incurred through corruption and maladministration in Tshwane,” he said.
Mahlangu said LASCA Tshwane Parliament have been further mandated by the Aggrieved Ratepayers to inform Tshwane Metro Municipality not to disconnect services until our demands are met.
We have solutions for city of Tshwane (cost cutting measures)
Prioritizing unemployed Youth and Unemployed Community members for meter readings, instead of appointing Service Providers who exploit our community members from other areas to deliberately Guestimate our bills.
Each Ward will have their own dedicated Meter Readers who knows and understand their Wards and Areas (Demarcations).
This won’t have any Transport and Lunch implications for the Meter Readers.
Instead of using money to transport meter readers or guess readers from other Provinces or Areas, the Municipality should rather employ or insource local people from Tshwane communities, especially Youth and Women who remain unemployed under the difficult conditions of High Rate of unemployment in South Africa.
This exercise will ensure that the Municipality receives accurate monthly billing on Consumption.
This proposals, will assist the City of Tshwane Metro Municipality to collect revenue within a short period of time. The Metro will see significant changes on their Debtors Book before end of 2024.
The following are the demand from the residents of Tshwane:
• The immediate release of MAYCO report that contains the Write- Off Report that must be taken to the Council on the 29 th of August 2024. Please note that we are aware of 2,500 applicants who do not qualify to be registered as Indigent but were included on 70 000 list of Indigents.
We eventually seek the complete list of 147 000 registered Indigents to be submitted to Council. We demand Accountability on the “ Fraudulent” MAYCO report
• Immediate Scrapping of Arrear Estimated Bills ( Overdue Accounts to be Written off and Current Accounts be Billed on ACTUAL instead of Guestimated by exploited Contractors)
• Unblocking of Prepaid Meter Cards with immediate effect (e.g. 48 hours from the 30th of August 2024)
• Release the Un-Altered long overdue Affordability Assessment report for all customers who completed the Affordability and Assessment forms since 2021 up to date
• Urgent Refurbishment of Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant in Hammanskraal in the current Financial Year (2024) and Restoration of Water in Mamelodi Ikageng and other Townships
• The cancellation of Debt Collector’s Contracts which was due to expire in November 2023 and Cancellation of Contracts of Consulting Firms operating within our Municipality.
• Cancellation of Credit Control (e.g. Distribution of Fake Final letters of Demands bearing Umar Banda and Nthabiseng Mokete’s signatures). This is Fraudulent activity by the City Officials
• Stop Dispatching Contractors with no valid Identification and Job cards in all Regions
• Stop Exploitation of Guestimators by Consulting Firms who earns R2,50 per household
• Cancellation of Notorious Tshwane Ya Tima campaign especially on Indigents who are waiting to be assisted with their approvals as Indigents and also residents who completed Affordability and Rebate Forms since 2021
• Community Outreach programme to be taken away from the Consulting and Debt Collecting Firms.
This program is now being used to trick Municipal customers into committing to payment arrangements on Arrear Estimated bills.
• Social Development Department/SASSA). to provide City of Tshwane Metro Municipality with Database of Registered Indigents, including the Recipients of SRD Grants. City of Tshwane have a Total of 600 000 Indigents not 70 000 list withheld by MAYCO and the Speaker
• Most importantly and urgently, the Honourable Speaker Cllr M. Ndzwanana is requested to announce the MAYCO report during today’s Council sitting where all Coucillors should Table a Motion of Writing Off our Deliberate Arrear Estimated bills, especially in Tshwane Townships.
We are looking at the current Council Sitting, dated the 29th of August 2024. MAYCO must release that report to the Council speaker and Council
• The City of Tshwane Municipality must use their abandoned buildings instead of leasing private properties.
The City must also stop leasing its fleet of vehicles instead of releasing their own fleet in various workshops across the City.
This is wasteful and fruitless expenditure
• The City must start Disconnecting Tshwane House building; Embassies and other buildings leased by the City before it intimidate our residents using Unvetted TMPD.
“This is not the first time we come to Tshwane House to deliver a memorandum, this is the 3 memorandum that we are delivering but nothing is changing,” said Mahlangu.
He said LASCA / Tshwane Parliament give City of Tshwane Metro Municipality two working days from the dates (29th and 30th August 2024) this Memorandum of Demands was signed and received, to positively and urgently respond to the Memorandum of Demands.
There will be no further extensions by the City since they dismally failed to respond to 24th January 2024 Memorandum.
We therefore give City of Tshwane Municipality only 1 option which is to respond to this Memorandum of Demands during these two Council sittings dated 29th and 30th of August 2024.
“We came here to support LASCA Tshwane Parliament because their grievances are the same as our and we are fighting the same and we want to see municipality to cancel all the historical debts,” said Soweto Parliament member Joel April.
An official from the office of the mayor Willie Venter was assigned to collect the memorandum.
The following is attachment is a memorandum: