Collapse of Johannesburg’s electronic billing system ‘factually incorrect’, says city
· Citizen
The City of Johannesburg has dismissed claims that its electronic billing system was unable to service residents.
Reports were circulating on Wednesday morning suggesting the municipality’s accounts system had frozen or collapsed.
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The city has previously experienced problems with its billing systems, but stressed on Thursday morning that claims of a fresh failure were “alarmist”.
Almost 10 000 clearance figures in two months
The city stated that payment processing was stable and that all property transfers were continuing as usual – both digitally and manually.
Isolated delays were experienced in February, but the city confirmed these had been resolved, and that as of this week, there were no delays.
“There is no evidence to support assertions that the city’s systems have collapsed or that property transfers across Johannesburg have come to a standstill.
“These claims are factually incorrect, misleading, irresponsible, and risk creating unnecessary panic among residents, the property sector and investors,” the city stated.
Performance data provided shows that across January and February, the city received 9 815 clearance figures and processed 9 516 of those within 30 days.
Additionally, 6 430 clearance certificate applications were received by the city, with 6 395 issued within 24 hours.
Technical challenges not ‘a system collapse’
The city admitted that there were occasional periods of down time, but were resolved timeously.
“While technical challenges may occur from time to time, these do not constitute a system collapse,” it said.
To improve service delivery and transparency within the billing system, the city said it was holding quarterly engagements legal professionals close to the deeds office.
The billing system administers just over one million accounts, with the city stating it was committed to greater digitisation.
“The City continues to roll out enhanced digital platforms to make it easier for customers to log queries and ensure issues are resolved within short and reasonable timeframes,” the city concluded.
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