Joburg councillors owe about R2m but city refuses to name defaulters

What the city has revealed

The city’s chief financial officer, Tebogo Moraka, told a parliamentary committee that “we have identified current and former councillors with outstanding municipal accounts amounting to about R2 million” and that the city was pursuing recovery through its credit control and debt collection processes.

The city also reported that, in its third-quarter report published on 31 March, the total outstanding debt for staff and councillors was R74.2 million.

City Power details and warnings

City Power said only a portion of the councillor-related debt is for electricity. The utility’s director of communications and stakeholder management, Kgamanyane Maphologela, said there were 15 councillor accounts supplied by City Power in arrears, with a combined total of R657,779 across electricity, water, property rates, refuse and sewer charges.

City Power said 31 councillors receive electricity directly from Eskom and another 33 are on prepaid City Power systems. Of the 15 City Power accounts in arrears, the utility said six were on formal payment arrangements, three were being settled through salary deductions and six were making direct monthly payments.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena publicly criticised councillors in Alexandra for unpaid electricity and warned of disconnections. He said:

“One of the issues we want councillors to assist with is revenue collection to ensure residents are actually buying their electricity. But you cannot have councillors preaching payment when they are not practising it.”

Mangena also said:

“We know them, we know their addresses, and that is why we are going to ensure they are disconnected. When we say practise what we preach, we mean it.”

City stance on disclosure and enforcement

Asked whether the identities of indebted councillors would be disclosed, City Power invoked the Protection of Personal Information Act as the reason for not releasing names. The city said councillors report to the speaker of council and stressed that they are not exempt from municipal policies.

The city listed standard credit-control measures applied to councillors who do not enter payment arrangements or keep up repayments, including salary deductions, payment arrangements, reports to the office of the speaker and, where necessary, disconnection procedures.

Broader financial context

The reporting also highlighted financial strain at City Power: an overdraft of nearly R20 billion, monthly purchases of electricity from Eskom that exceed collections, and losses of about 30% of the electricity it buys. City officials, including the mayor, his deputy and the city manager, appeared before Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts as the city intensifies efforts to stabilise municipal finances.

Calls for accountability

The revelation that councillors owe municipal money has prompted criticism and appeals for councillors to “practise what they preach” as the city pursues residents, businesses and other entities for unpaid accounts to protect service delivery and maintain infrastructure.