Mayor Masondo visits the revenue department
Johannesburg's Executive Mayor, Clr Amos Masondo, this morning (2 February 2011) made an unannounced visit to the revenue offices and the Call Centre, as part of the ongoing interventions to address billing issues.
This visit is a clear indication of a commitment to address these and other challenges. The City will continue to monitor progress being registered on a day to day basis into the future. We wish to reiterate that we have never denied that the City is faced with challenges and difficulties.
We have also acknowledged that some residents have been negatively impacted upon by actions or lack thereof of by the municipality, its management and personnel.
We have also indicated that disciplinary measures are being taken on all employees and management for any wrong doing and unbecoming behaviour. All of us must be held accountable.
We introduced Project Phakama to have a single service utility and to manage the revenue value chain. We sought to ensure that the city became responsible for the overall revenue and customer services.
We decided to operate from a single common database and to use a single IT system that would be robust enough to assist the city to run all its complex operations in an integrated manner.
It is wrong and malicious for some in the media to continue claiming that the City has said there are no problems. All we said was the situation is not turning for the worse and provided evidence indicating why this is so.
The City has learnt valuable lessons, from the current situation, including the following:
- The need for transparency and a continuous free flow of information to all our stakeholders and to the public;
- That technical systems need to be complemented by the building of capacity amongst the staff and ensuring that change management is fully embraced.
- The need to beef up on management controls; and
- The deepening and improvement of internal communications.
We uphold the principles of Batho Pele (that people come first) and accept that the Customer is King.
We would like to commend the majority of employees who continue to do excellent work and strive to take the work that we do, to a higher level. We salute their commitment, dedication and diligence.
The City will continue to engage with all stakeholders, the different spheres of government, the ratepayers as well as the general public to find a lasting solution.
Please bear with us. We are all in this important work together.
Statement issued by Nthatisi Modingoane, Deputy Director: Communications, City of Johannesburg, Februayr 2 2011
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
