Joburg still has not scrapped municipal debt of poor families after three years

A resolution passed by the City of Johannesburg council three years ago to write off municipal debt of indigent families has not yet been implemented, and those affected want to know why.

PA chief whip Lois Simonse said the resolution, adopted on November 1 2023, was still not implemented, leaving many property owners with homes valued at less than R1m at a disadvantage.

The party has given Joburg mayor Dada Morero 48 hours to explain the long delay. The deadline is Friday at 5pm.

“This resolution was lawfully adopted by council following due process and majority support. It remains binding on the administration,” she said. “Yet, more than a year later, there has been no credible implementation, no clear framework and no meaningful communication to residents.”

According to Simonse, the debt write-off was not for everyone but for the indigent.

“It is for those that are saying they want to pay but cannot afford to,” she said. “The continued failure to implement the resolution prolonged financial distress for qualifying residents and represented a missed opportunity to stabilise and improve revenue collection.”

Meanwhile, residents said the delays continue to have severe consequences for them.

Among them is Myrtle Williams, CEO of the Ladies of Hope organisation, which supports the elderly and runs an after-school feeding scheme.

Williams said her property — next to an open field — was affected by land invasions, which caused their water bill to spike to as much as R20,000 a month. This was because the invaders had connected themselves to her water, she said.

Despite making arrangements to pay R2,000 monthly, the organisation now owes about R500,000, said Williams.

“It is not our doing. The motion needs to be implemented so that the debt can be written off and the system fixed,” she said.

She said there was debt rehabilitation for those who were employed but still could not afford to pay.

Simonse said that at the time the resolution was passed, the city’s debtors’ book had already exceeded R47bn, with little realistic prospect of recovering a significant portion of the debt.

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She said council had recognised that much of the historical debt was both legally and practically unrecoverable, with many residents trapped in legacy debt and left without a pathway to compliance.

The council had further acknowledged that a structured write-off, coupled with prepaid metering, would help reset the system and improve future revenue collection, she said. “The intent was not simply relief, but reform — to restore a sustainable culture of payment,” she said.

She said although the party had requested a response from Morero and the city within seven days of submitting a memorandum on March 30, no response had been received.

“We therefore call on the executive mayor and the city administration to act with urgency,” she said.

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Ennerdale resident David Lucas, 68, said he has a R124,000 water bill which goes back to 2016 and has continuously been accumulating interest.

Lucas said he was unemployed and his wife’s pension was helping.

“Council should be willing to say, ‘let’s write off and start on a clean slate’,” he said.

The city is, however, running a debt-relief programme aimed at helping residents and businesses recover from financial strain.

The programme started in November 2025 and will end in October.

During this period customers can benefit from a 50% municipal debt write-off, along with interest and fee waivers.

“This means real financial relief for those who need it most and a chance to start afresh with the city,” it said on the website.

Questions to Morero’s office were not answered by the time of publishing.

Sowetan