The financially struggling Buffalo City Metro is now targeting its ratepayers’ homes in a desperate bid to recoup billions owed to it.
An advert last week detailed how the city will be going after 130,000 property owners to recoup R8.8bn in unpaid debt owed to the city.
The property owners include households, businesses and government departments. Private homeowners make up more than 80% of the lot which owes the metro.
This means should the city live up to its threat, thousands of BCM residents are in line to lose their homes.
By law, the city is entitled to use whatever legal means it has at its disposal to recoup money owed to it for rates and services.
However, in the case of BCM, this threat seems a bit more drastic given its own shortcomings in not only delivering services but also issuing correct billing to residents.
According to the city, property owners whose debt is more than 120 days in arrears would be handed over for legal collection action.
However, it says that before the city attaches and auctions off properties, the owners can still negotiate with the city to make alternative arrangements if they cannot afford to settle their debt immediately.
However, the metro has been at loggerheads with a number of residents who have consistently questioned the accuracy of its billing system.
In 2023, some residents came together in a bid to take the municipality to court due to its credit control policy which, at the time, had caused an uproar after the city made aggressive attempts, including cutting off electricity to some households, to recoup the money owed.
At the time, one resident had a water bill of R84,000.
Ratepayers’ associations and opposition parties have not taken the city’s latest offensive well.
We agree with those calling for another “roundtable” discussion to deal with the city’s debt as they point out that other contributing factors to the ballooning bills are water meter thefts and illegal connections.
Equally so, those calling for BCM to ensure that its billing is accurate must be listened to.
With so many queries raised by the city’s customers and residents, those in the corridors of power should rather get their house in order first before going after the houses of the already financially-strained ratepayers.
If the city does not sort out its billing challenges, any steps it takes to recover debt, including the drastic move to sell off people’s homes, lack credibility and risk it being caught up in unending court battles.