Final month of discounts on Tshwane arrears

Tshwane residents who are in arrears with their municipal accounts have until the end of next month to take advantage of the Tshwane Metro Council's incentive scheme.

The scheme was introduced early this year and offers a 50 percent discount on municipal services.

It was introduced to ease a cash-flow crisis that forced the institution to slash spending substantially.

The municipality is owed an estimated R3 billion. Mamelodi tops the list of problem suburbs (R472.8m), followed by Atteridgeville (R79.8m), Saulsville (R76.6m), Mahube Valley (R28.2m) and Pretoria (R23.1m).

Council spokesman Console Tleane said residents who applied by the end of August would get a discount of 40 percent on the outstanding amounts, while businesses would get 30 percent.

Tleane said only one application per account would be accepted and consumers could apply for only one of the schemes.

He said consumers who applied must pay the outstanding amount within five days (inclusive of weekends) of the application.

The discount calculation will be done on the debt outstanding on June 30.

The mayoral committee member responsible for finance, Dr Ernie Jacobson, said the council would not extend the deadline for the incentive scheme.

Jacobson said the council had made a small profit since the incentive scheme was introduced.

"We decided that we are not going to do it any more," he said.

Jacobson said the council had managed to get more residents paying since the introduction of the incentive scheme. "People came forward to settle their arrears."

Pretoria News

Posted at 09:58AM Jul 29, 2010 by Editor in Cities and Towns  |  Comments[3]