Pretoria - City of Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse said the municipality had approached Gauteng Premier David Makhura to seek his intervention over the R200 million debt owed by hospitals in the province.
Phalatse said her administration had cut off several government departments which are in arrears around Johannesburg, but she has spared the hospitals and sought the premier’s intervention.
“We did go public. We announced particularly the government departments. I was comfortable naming and shaming government departments (owing the city) because I know they receive money from equitable share, their bank accounts are public – I know exactly what their finances look like, and I know many have the capacity to pay,” Phalatse told broadcaster eNCA on Tuesday morning.
“But we also use our discretion. For instance, we chose not to cut off hospitals. The department of health in Gauteng is owing us in excess of R200 million. We decided that we are not going to cut them off. We need to rather look at a different approach.”
Phalatse said she then approached Makhura to have the provincial treasury settle the ballooning debt of the department of health.
“I approached the premier and said (to him), we are gonna cut off something in the province. Provincial treasury should be able to settle that debt. The (provincial) department of health does not have the money,” she said.
Since last week, Tshwane Mayor Randall Williams has been leading an aggressive campaign to disconnect water and electricity supply to businesses, diplomatic missions and government departments owing the city billions of rand in arrears.
Phalatse said Joburg’s disconnection campaign started before Tshwane took the initiative.
“We actually started before Tshwane started. Most people in the media missed it. We had a presser on a Friday, and my team said Friday is not a good media day, but we did hold a presser on Friday two weeks ago to announce exactly how much is owed to the city and who is owing us, but we won’t divulge the details of a lot of the private businesses that owe us money,” she said.
“We did announce that day that we were starting with cut-offs, and we did. Some companies, particularly government departments, came forward and started to make payments. The idea is to rehabilitate those who owe us money. It’s not to cut ties with them.”
She said the City of Joburg’s approach has been consultative, giving the defaulters an opportunity to settle their accounts.
IOL