The City of Joburg said that there was a slow uptake in its initial debt rehabilitation programme, which had about 15,000 applicants so far.
The intervention was availed to residents and businesses last year to assist with the economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme was meant to write off about R470 million from the city’s debtors book.
The City of Joburg’s MMC for Finance Matshidiso Mfikoe told the publication that the programme was aimed at assisting people whose property rates had been evaluated to be below R1.5 million.
“Our debtors’ book is sitting at more than 7,000 of the people that we think their properties can be written off and we recoup a refreshed mandate from them to pay again. So, it is a month-by-month assessment that needs to be done.”
She has explained the challenges preventing residents from taking up the programme, which had seen about 15,000 applicants so far.
“Part of what I found when I was talking to communities and we were discussing the extensions, was that the messages did not go through properly. There was no clarity on the actual property beneficiaries.”
Last week, the Joburg Council approved the extension of the initiative until the end of December.
-EWN
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