By Lucky Sindane
The City has helped more than 120 000 indigent residents, and has written off more than R1,5-billion in arrears as part of its Municipal Services Subsidy Scheme.
This was announced by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo at a function held to celebrate the scheme. It was held on Wednesday, 5 April in Orlando East, Soweto.
Thousands Joburg residents, mostly pensioners, packed the Orlando Communal Hall and two marquees erected outside the hall for the celebration. Some even abandoned their walking sticks and started dancing and singing.
"We want to show our mayor and the City's officials that we are thankful for what they have done for us," said an overjoyed Annah Mthombeni.
Her delight was echoed by another pensioner, Norah Monaheng, who said: "This is a very good scheme which helped us; it shows that we are well catered for. All the pensioners are happy about it."
Mandy Jean Woods, the spokesperson in the City's revenue department, explained the thinking behind the scheme. "The Municipal Services Subsidy Scheme is a major incentive to poor communities in Johannesburg to relieve their burden of debts, but at the same time reinforce a culture of payment.
"When we launched the registration programme for the subsidy, we estimated that around 100 000 households in the city would qualify for the scheme, and that we could write off around R1,5-billion in total," she said.
According to Masondo, the majority of people who had registered for this scheme were pensioners. "I would like to thank each one of you for supporting our programme. Without your support this programme would not have been successfully implemented in the City of Johannesburg."
Masondo launched the campaign to register indigent households for the subsidy in Soweto in May 2005. While the City already provides free basic water and electricity to every household each month, the subsidy scheme covers the remaining charges for refuse removal and sanitation.
It targets pensioners, people with disabilities who are beneficiaries of a national social security grant, and breadwinners with HIV/Aids or their orphans, who are City account holders.
"In the past year alone we have seen significant improvements from an average collection rate of 93,3 percent in 2004-05 to 98,5 percent in September 2005," Masondo said. "This money is used to improve service delivery. And the only way we can sustain this is if you all continue to pay your accounts in full and on time every month."
He urged people to create a culture in which payment of accounts was a norm, not an exception. "It must not be a grudge purchase; it must be something you pay not because you have a right to it but because you have made use of the services that we offer."
The mayor also spoke about the second phase of the campaign, called Reathusa, or Meeting you halfway. This scheme was also aimed at the poor and needy families who might be able to make some contribution towards paying for rates and services and accumulated arrears but who were unable to settle these amounts in full.
"As the City we are saying Reathusa, we will meet you halfway. If you take responsibility for half of the debt you owe to the City we will write off the other half," Masondo said.
"If you continue to reduce your debt and pay for running services we will meet you halfway by clearing the backlog of payments. If you show a desire to pay for essential services we will assist you to manage your budget and take charge of your consumption through, among others, the installation of pre-paid meters."
Residents who are unable to pay their account in full should not wait for their debt to accumulate. They should go to their nearest paypoint and make arrangements to pay off the monies they owe.
However, the mayor warned people against trying to cheat the system. "A worrying matter for me is the fact that while this programme is aimed at assisting the poorest of the poor in our City, there are those among us, a minority of people, who have attempted to submit applications for the subsidy even though they do not qualify," Masondo said.
"As we stated before, we are verifying the information given to us by applicants and we will track down people who are stealing from us in this way. We will reverse the write-offs of those people who are found to not qualify for the scheme and we will take credit control action against them. Where it is possible we will also open criminal and-or civil proceedings against them," he added.
"I ask that you all to continue to be responsible citizens and remember that there is an obligation on residents and consumers in the City to assist us by paying for water, electricity and other services that are consumed beyond the basic free allocations," Masondo concluded.
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