Hundreds of Joburg residents and customers flocked to Brightwater Commons in Region B on Saturday October 6 to have their billing inquiries attended to by officials in the first of a series of public Revenue Open Days the City has embarked on.
 
The aim of the Revenue Open Days is to have meaningful engagements with customers and residents regarding their accounts in line with the City’s overall customer-centricity plan. The City has already engaged with VIP customers such as large corporations and body corporates.
 
Stanley Maphologela, a spokesman for the City of Joburg’s Revenue Department, said the main aim of the Revenue Open Days was to instantly solve inquiries around account billing, valuations, refuse removal, water supply and rates and taxes in each region and identify region-specific issues using the data collected.
 
“Issues and queries that we are not able to solve here [at the Revenue Open Day] are logged and will be followed up later. We will revert to the customer or resident once the said issue has been resolved. This is all in line with the City’s move towards being more customer-centred and -focused.
 
“The Revenue Open Days also provide us with the opportunity to achieve enhanced data accuracy, which is collected directly from the customer or resident and rectified immediately on the system. The open days also enable us to update traceable customer information, which will mean enhanced communication efficiency in the future,” said Maphologela.
 
He said the open days had a “one-stop shop” principle. “For example, if a resident has an issue with an incorrect meter reading, we are able to send a meter reader to the property immediately to check and report on it,” he said.
 
Officials from JMPD, Emergency Management Services, Joburg Water, City Parks, Pikitup, City Power, Joburg Water and Group Finance were on hand to answer questions related to the area of their competencies.
 
Future Revenue Open Days will be advertised in local newspapers and on the City’s website www.joburg.org.za