Laudium Saulsville Atteridgeville Civic Associations (LASCA) leader Tshepo Mahlangu has lashed out at MMC for Finance in the City of Tshwane Jacqui Uys, regarding a Tik Tok message which was recently posted by Uys.
According to Mahlangu, the message is meant to make City of Tshwane residents idiots.
“DA is now campaigning on TikTok, promising residents of Tshwane Metro that they should apply for affordability assessment regarding the debts they owe to the municipality in terms of services, and this is misleading,” fumed Mahlangu in a statement submitted to Tshwane Talks at the weekend.
Mahlangu is adamant that Uys’ statement is in contradiction to the Tik Tok messages wherein the MMC gloated about reintroducing Tshwane Ya Tima campaign.
Tshwane Ya Tima campaign is a process whereby the municipality switches off electricity and water services of residents who are indebted to the municipality in this regard.
“If indeed she (Uys) can write off debts though the affordability assessment programme, then why didn’t she do so in 2021 after we (LASCA) submitted hundreds of forms to the City of Tshwane Municipality regarding residents who could not afford to pay their debts?” asked Mahlangu.
“We are not fools, the municipality must start off by writing off debts of all people who applied for their debts to be scrapped in 2021/2022,” he said.
He emphatically pointed out that the municipality must remove 2 500 names of people who were fraudulently sneaked into the list of indigent people who genuinely qualify for their municipal debts to be scrapped.
“Promises of writing off debts of the indigent are an election stunt by Uys and we are going to defy those stunts,” said Mahlangu.
He said the DA sneaked in its undeserving friends and families on LASCA’s list of indigents and that the DA administration must just vacate the municipal offices as residents of Tshwane are tired of being abused, undermined and disrespected.
He bemoaned the fact that no one was holding the DA-led City of Tshwane Municipality to account in terms of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
Mahlangu told Tshwane Talks that he personally submitted the affordability assessment forms in 2021 to Divisional Finance head Ronny Shilenge and that the said forms were subsequently collected by previous MMC for Finance Peter Sutton.
In response to the above, Uys wrote as follows to Tshwane Talks:
“From the start of the Tshwane Ya Tima Campaign we have called upon residents to take control of their debts and avoid disconnection by 1. Settling their accounts in full.
2.Making payment arrangements.
3. Applying for Poorest of the Poor (POP) programme for the indigent.
4. Applying to the Afordability Assessment Committee.
Uys further said while it was true that that the affordability committee has been functioning, the outcomes thereof have not gone to Council yet to be written off.
She pointed out that getting Affordability Assessment Committee reports to the Council was a push from her side and that as a responsible local government the city needed to have a realistic debtor’s book.