The City of Joburg has taken a no-nonsense approach and is claiming back more than R38-billion which businesses, residents and government departments in Sandton owe for municipal services.

As part of the #BuyaMthetho campaign, Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse and City officials embarked on a revenue-collection operation on Wednesday, targeting ratepayers that have outstanding municipal accounts. The officials were Public Safety MMC David Tembe, Finance and IT MMC Julie Suddaby and Environment Infrastructure Service Department (EISD) MMC Michael Sun.

Their first stop was at the SA Local Authorities (SALA) Pension Fund offices in Sandown, which owes R7.4-million for rates, water and refuse, according to the City.

"It is painful for us to come out and cut the water source in a building such as this one. It is not something we enjoy doing. The truth of the matter is that the City of Johannesburg purchases bulk services from Rand Water to supply residents and businesses.

"If we don't recover the money, we run at a loss and that affects service delivery. The very same residents and business owners expect the City to continue to render services to them, but if the system is not working and if somewhere along the line someone is not faithful with their payments, then the whole system will break down," Phalatse said.

She said the City had no other option but to cut off delinquent ratepayers.

The team then moved to the Sundown Village office park where the water was cut. The office park, which mainly houses advocates, owes R660 000, according to the City.

The City then shifted its focus to Bryanston where it cut supply to DJA Aviation (Pty) Ltd which owes, according to the City, R840 000 for water and around R11 800 in electricity. 

M J S Family Trust owes the City an amount of R607 000 in water, the City claims.

The City of Joburg said Murinda Investments (Pty) Ltd owes R421 000 in power, and Persian Trade Centre (Pty) owes R142 000 for electricity.

Phalatse said the property owners were notified but they claimed that they paid management companies and that somewhere along the line "the money is not filtering through to the municipality".

"When we terminate services today (Wednesday), it should come as little to no surprise to the account holders, given that we have sent pre-termination notices in one form or another, warning them of their debt to the municipality and the promise to cut them off.

"Communication has been sent out furthermore on the urgency of this matter and pre-termination notices were issued. There has been sufficient time to address those issues and that has not happened," Phalatse said.

Phalatse added that a pre-termination notice had been issued to Sandton City earlier in February to settle their debt of around R168 million. Should Sandton City fail to pay by the end of February, the City will take action.