By Kingsley Wakelin
MMC for Corporate and shared services
MMC’s Kingsley Wakelin response to the statement by LASCA
It is the interest of all Tshwane residents, especially the poor, that consumers who can afford to pay their municipal bills do pay.
Tshwane has one of the most generous offers of all the metros for free basic services to support our poorest residents.
The only way the city can afford to sustain this support is to collect all monies owing for rates and services provided.
Effective credit control and debt collection is needed to meet our Constitutional duty to provide basic services through a cross-subsidisation model and meet our obligations to Eskom and Rand Water.
It is also only fair that consumers who can afford to pay, do pay, enabling us to provide basic services to our poorest residents.
The vehicles allocated to Tshwane Ya Tima are essential to improving service delivery, and restoring fairness and the rule of law.
It is money well spent for the benefit of all residents of Tshwane. These vehicles are part of a cost-saving drive by exiting expensive vehicle leases, buying directly from local vehicle manufacturers to support local jobs, and keeping repairs and maintenance in-house so that we can have a more efficient fleet with improved vehicle availability.
We would like to encourage Lasca to promote a culture of paying for services, to follow due process in applying for debt write-off, and to work with us to build a city that works for all residents.
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