2011-02-22: The City of Joburg is listening
THE City, Friday, received a memorandum presented by DA Councilor, David Dews and a small group of members of the JAG (Johannesburg Advocacy Group).
Actions such as these reassure citizens that civil rights and liberties are indeed available to all citizens of South Africa in general and Joburgers in particular.
It also confirmed the city's commitment to listen to the views of our residents and to respond to issues they raise. We will also keep residents updated on the steps taken to correct problems.
We have identified customers who have raised billing queries with our call centre and customer service centers and have implemented a proactive process of calling these customers in an attempt to resolve their queries. This process is allowing us to gather more information and enabling us to deal directly with people who have registered queries.
With regard to the specifics issues noted in the memorandum handed over, the city will review these and provide a comprehensive response.
The following principles should be noted in this regard:
If the City finds, or is presented with evidence, to suggest that specific accounts are inaccurate or problematic on a case-by-case basis, it will suspend cut-offs until the issue is resolved;
With regards to account queries, the City can only deal with individual account holders and not organisations acting on their behalf.
It is therefore imperative that individuals come forward and talk to us on the basis of their contract with us:
If a query is logged at one of our customer service centers, we will give feedback on how the matter is being investigated and how it will be resolved;
The City remains open and willing to talk to all our citizens on billing and other relevant City matters;
Billing and revenue management is not a political process, but an administrative process. The relevant City officials must take responsibility to resolve billing and revenue matters where they arise.
The city hopes that the public attention focused on billing issues will contribute to us resolving remaining glitches in our system and ensure that issues raised by aggrieved customers are resolved.
We also want to remind residents that collecting revenue is a critical task in maintaining a functional city. Accounts that are unpaid or in arrears put an unfair strain on the City and its loyal paying residents.
We want to reassure our customers and citizens that issuing accurate bills and responsibly collecting revenue remains a high priority and one that will guarantee our status as a world class African city.
For the convenience of residents certain contact centres will operate with extended hours. These details will be posted on the Joburg website as well as in the media over the weekend.
For information please call:
Stanley Maphologela
083 589 3746
