Pretoria - The ANC in Tshwane has threatened to stand in the way of municipal workers and contractors disconnecting the electricity of defaulting customers and those who connected themselves illegally to the grid.
This as the party berated the metro for its confrontational revenue collection campaign called #TshwaneYaTima which has been in force for months, targeting customers whose municipal bills are in arrears.
The ANC said the campaign should be likened to a backstreet money lender colloquially known as mashonisa or loan shark for “its draconian way of collecting debts”.
“It is as if the City has become a backstreet mashonisa who breaks people’s legs for failing to pay,” the party said.
The party labelled the campaign as an “artificial and unorthodox method of collecting revenue”, saying it had resulted in the total collapse of the revenue division.
“A cogent and sustainable turnaround strategy which is coupled with community engagements should be designed and presented in the August council meeting to address this crisis. We will not allow Mashonisa Randall Williams in ANC-led wards if he continues with these bullying tactics,” the ANC said.
The party’s criticism of the campaign was made on the back of mayor Williams’s statement that condemned intimidation and threats of violence against City employees and contractors implementing credit control actions and removing illegal connections.
Williams said credit control teams were dispatched across all seven regions of the metro to ensure that residents paid their municipal accounts.
“We have, however, noticed unfortunate incidents where City employees and contractors have been met with resistance and threats of violence from some communities. This will not be tolerated, and we intend to bring law enforcement authorities on board to protect our employees and our infrastructure,” he said.
He said the City would push ahead with its #TshwaneYaTima campaign, calling for the culture of non-payment for services to come to an end.
Williams said the residential leg of the #TshwaneYaTima campaign started with suburban customers and would now focus on township customers collectively owing the City a staggering R7.3 billion.
Pretoria News