South African metro disconnects government buildings for nearly R2 billion in unpaid bills

The City of Tshwane said that national government departments owe the city a collective R1.9 billion in municipal fees. The city says the majority of outstanding bills are from national and provincial government entities.

“We targeted the government accounts. We’ve been to the Department of the Environment, Correctional Services and the Department of Rural Development,” said Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya while on a drive to recover these funds on January 15. 

She said that the departments owe R1.9 billion to the city. “You can imagine the strain this puts on the fiscus of the municipality,” she said. 

The mayor said that the city has previously reached out to these departments, warning them to pay their bills or face disconnection. 

“It looks like we are not winning. Now we are resorting to enforcing our bylaws, which is to switch off,” Moya said. 

“If residents are expected to pay their bills, there is nothing that stops the government from doing the same.”

The City of Tshwane, accompanied by Moya, disconnected the power supply to the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development’s head office as part of its drive to recover these funds. 

The Mayor posted the disconnection on social media platform X, claiming that the Department owes the city R3 million.

The DLRRD responded to the disconnection, claiming that all of its accounts are paid up to date with no outstanding balances. 

“The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development condemns the unjustified disconnection of the electricity supply at its head office building by the City of Tshwane,” the Department said in a statement. 

“A large contingent of CoT officials, accompanied by metro police officers, descended on the DLRRD head office at 600 Lillian Ngoyi Street in Pretoria and cut the power supply.”

The DLRRD says it can confirm that all of its accounts are up to date and that the behaviour of the officials who arrived to disconnect the power supply was unacceptable. 

“The Department wishes to express its displeasure with this callous and irresponsible action of disconnecting the power supply without prior notification, which resulted in some members of staff being trapped inside lifts in the building before generators activated.”

National departments cry foul

The Department has now lodged a formal complaint via email with the city, contesting the legality of the disconnection. 

It then said that their contestation rests on the fact that the disconnection was escalated using an “incorrect and unrecognised billing account.”

The city further disconnected the power supply to the head office of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), which said that this was a calculated attempt to mislead the public. 

“The mayor is aware that the Department of Correctional Services does not own the building that houses its head office,” the Department said.

“Despite this, the mayor deliberately fabricated and circulated false claims on social media to mislead the public and unjustly implicate the Department in wrongdoing.”

The DCS is a tenant at the premises in question and said it has honoured all contractual obligations to the landlord, who has settled all municipal accounts. This, it said, can be verified with proof of payments. 

Moya posted on X, however, that the company that manages the building that houses the DCS head office, Delta Property Fund Limited, owes the city R2.5 million.

“The conduct of the City of Tshwane in this matter amounts to administrative recklessness, an abuse of authority, and a flagrant disregard for verified facts,” said the DCS.

The Department said that the mayor should have exercised due diligence before taking enforcement action against a department that “does not owe the municipality.”

The city further said that the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment owes the city R1.8 million and was, therefore, also disconnected.

The Mayor said that the drive to recover funds from government buildings resulted in the city collecting R11.4 million in unpaid bills.