Makana Municipality has announced that it will disconnect services from government departments which did not co-operate with the council’s October deadline for payment of services debt.
Makana Municipality has announced that it will disconnect services from government departments which did not co-operate with the council’s October deadline for payment of services debt.
"The issue of an arrear debt to government departments has been a thorny issue for sometime," explains Makana chief financial officer Jackson Ngcelwane, "and that led to the Budget, Treasury and IDP Portfolio Committee resolving that the departments that are in arrrears with the municipality, for payment of services be disconnected."
He added that the resolution should have come into effect from last week as some departments failed to respond to this reminders. "I can confirm that such letters were written to all affected departments, mainly to the directors," he said. Consequently, Ngcelwane says payments have been received in "drips and drabs" despite the high debt.
"The office is left with no alternative except for implementing the resolution, and that will happen anytime from this week onwards," asserted Ngcelwane.
He also said he has requested his colleagues in the financial services directorate to ensure that there are no payments that might have been paid but due to some reasons were not receipted. "As soon as such exercise is completed the department will commence with implementing the resolution," he said, adding that the issue of handing the defaulters’ accounts to the council’s attorneys has not been discussed yet.
