TSHWANE MUST WRITE OFF DEBT, BUT IT SHOULD BE BASED ON SOLID PRINCIPLES

TSHWANE MUST WRITE OFF DEBT, BUT IT SHOULD BE BASED ON SOLID PRINCIPLES

By Jacqui Uys

DA Tshwane Caucus Chairperson

Today, in a continuation council meeting, a report to write off debt to residents, who applied to the city’s affordability committee, was passed.

This is the last financial report that was brought by the DA in the previous administration and is the first step in a direction towards a reliable debtor’s book and increased debt collection percentage.

There is no other way to lead the City of Tshwane to financial recovery, other than aggressive debt collection; those who can pay, must.

This is why Tshwane Ya Tima is such an important campaign. But, the part of Tshwane Ya Tima that must not be forgotten, is to 1) Help those who cannot pay to apply for free basic services and 2) help those who can pay, but are struggling, to come back into the payment net to contribute to the city in an affordable way.

This is why it is important for this administration to continue the work that was begun to deal responsibly with the Debtors’ book by finalising reports already requested by the DA that:

Write of debt to deceased estates and to allow beneficiaries to open up new accounts

Write of debt to child-headed households and register them on the indigent register

Fast track the indigent application process to utilise credit records, bank statements, and SASSA records for qualification

Change policy to allow officials to, by following accounting guidelines, write off debt older than three years when it is clear from credit records that residents will not be able to service that debt, allowing them to start paying current accounts

Implement the National Credit Act, common law in the Duplum rule, that the cost of credit; being interest and fees, may not exceed the unpaid balance of an account. An important excercise in making debt affordable to the customer and recoverable to the city

Write of water debt to residents in Hammanskraal, to allow them to start on a clean slate, once there is clean water in their taps.

What the administration must NOT do is a blanket write off of debt for specific areas due to pressure from interest groups, encouraging future default payments, in a costly attempt to win some votes.

Debt writes off should be a means test, sticking to the principle that those who can pay, must and those who can’t be helped with the aim to bring them back into the payment net.

Any other approach would be unfair to residents and detrimental to the financial recovery to the city and the DA will reject any such attempts and reports.