Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell finally addressed residents of Tembisa on Friday. PHOTO: Twitter/@City_Ekurhuleni
8 PROMISES Ekurhuleni Mayor made to Tembisa residents
Mayor Tania Campbell made promises to the Tembisa residents including giving them free power and sorting their high electricity bills.
Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell finally addressed residents of Tembisa on Friday. PHOTO: Twitter/@City_Ekurhuleni
Following days of sporadic protests in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni Mayor Tania Campbell stuck to her promise of meeting the residents on Friday.
Addressing the community at the Mehlareng Stadium in the morning, she responded to their memorandum of grievances.
MAYOR CAMPBELL SENDS CONDOLENCES TO THOSE WHO DIED IN TEMBISA PROTEST
The township experienced road blockages and violence earlier this week during the protests. This led to the death of four people, two of whom allegedly died while trying to bomb an ATM.
“My deepest condolences for the loss of lives that we have had during the riot period. To give absolute respect, I ask if we can have a minute of silence,” she started the address.
ALSO READ: Tembisa protest to continue until promised meeting with Mayor
EIGHT THINGS MAYOR CAMPBELL PROMISED THE TEMBISA COMMUNITY
Among the issues raised by the community in their memorandum are high billing queries, unsatisfactory service from customer care centre staff and alleged tariff inequalities between various townships in the City of Ekurhuleni.
After Eskom pulled out their electricity supply during the protest, and the burning of a substation left parts of Tembisa in the dark, power has been restored.
“We are pleased that electricity has been restored in most parts of Tembisa after the destruction of the substation a few days ago. This is the first step which we have taken in restoring services and normality to the community.”
Mayor Tania Campbell
1. Debt relief measures
The City will develop an aggressive debt rehabilitation programme to deal with historic debt.
“We will provide you with a 50% write-off of debt in excess of one year on the date of application approval.”
This includes writing off rates, service charges, interest and other costs.
“The scheme will be available to qualifying applicants from 1 July 2022 until 31 March 2023.”
ALSO READ: Tembisa protests orchestrated to make township ungovernable – Mayor
2. Billing system
As the community complained about high electricity billing in Tembisa, Campbell said these will be rectified immediately.
“We want to assure you that the issue of the inaccurate billing system is being resolved. We will also ensure that bills for water, sanitation, rates and taxes are separated from the electricity bill,” said Campbell.
3. Indigent policy
The City is in the process of reviewing the indigent policy so that those who qualify for subsidies can be assisted. The amended policy will soon be gazetted for public comment, said Campbell.
“In the meantime, while the process unfolds, we have resolved to stop any disconnections and declines of indigent applications for the next 90 days. As the leadership of Ekurhuleni, we want to assure all residents who qualify for the indigent policy that they will be assisted accordingly.”
4. Property rates and taxes which are over-valued will be assessed
Property owners that believe their properties are over-valued and have never objected or sent a query form to the City can submit a Section 78 query form at any City of Ekurhuleni customer care centre. The process will run until the end of the valuation roll on 30 June 2024.
ALSO READ: Tembisa residents left powerless due to burned substation and Eskom
5. Notice service charges will be sent via SMS
Services charges will now be sent via the SMS system to notify all residents of their account being in arrears. This means that residents will no longer be charged for administration and delivery of cut-off notice letters.
“We urge all residents to ensure that they are registered on the Siyakhokha online portal so that you can start receiving SMS and email communication regarding your accounts,” said Campbell.
6. Residents to receive thousands of wheelie bins for waste management
The City of Ekurhuleni will distribute 27 000 wheelie bins to households in the next few days. This is to help curb illegal dumping in Tembisa, said Campbell.
“We will also clean up all the illegal dumping sites around Tembisa. We appeal to members of the community to stop illegal dumping and conserve the environment.”
7. Tembisa residents to get 100 free electricity units
The City of Ekurhuleni will also continue to provide 50kws of free basic units.
“The 100kws free basic units are outside of our due restrictions as a municipality, therefore we are engaging with the provincial and national governments to find a solution.”
ALSO READ: Tembisa protest: Damage estimated to be R35m says Mayor Campbell
8. Incompetent customer care service staff to be dealt with
Residents have complained about customer care service staff who are unprofessional. Campbell says customer care centres will operate six days a week, from Monday to Saturday. On Saturday, the centres will operate until 13:00.
“Our centres will no longer close at lunchtime. The issue of unprofessional behaviour by our staff members is receiving my attention. I have instructed the administration to investigate incidents of bribery, corruption and collusion with so-called lawyers who stealing your hard-earned money,” Campbell said.
A new facility will be opened for residents after they torched a customer care centre during the protests.
Campbell says this issue will be dealt with during the two-week long Open Day to assist in ensuring that every household is billed under the correct tariff.
