LETTER: Nonpayment of service fees is a disaster, and it was the ANC’s brainchild
If Soweto’s debt is written off, it goes without saying other municipalities will insist on the same preferential treatment
07 November 2022 - 16:43
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Soweto residents march against high electricity tariffs in 2015. Picture: PUXLEY MAKGATHO
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is in a merry Christmas mood. He is immediately doing away with the controversial e-toll system of Sanral and wants to write off Soweto’s power debt, after R8bn of it was already written off in 2020.
In contrast, President Cyril Ramaphosa reprimands municipalities and the state department to settle their power bills to Eskom because the outstanding total amounts to more than R50bn.
At the same time the president professes to understand Lesufi's position and asks that "balanced discussions" take place about it. What is "balanced" if the president and premier of SA’s richest province can’t even give balanced guidance?
The nonpayment of service fees is a disaster, and it was the brainchild of the ANC. It was introduced as a means of passive resistance to the then apartheid government. It was so successful that a special task force led by Roelf Meyer and Gen Joffel van der Westhuizen was deployed in the Union Buildings in the early 1990s to try to find a counter to it.
But once you've taught someone not to pay, you don't reverse the habit easily. It has spilled over into the new SA and is growing from crisis to crisis.
The AA has already said keep your money in your pocket, don’t pay e-tolls. Who in Soweto is going to pay these service fees? And if Soweto’s debt is written off, it goes without saying that other municipalities will start insisting on the same preferential treatment.
The nonpayment of service fees was a political move. Writing off any service delivery debt is too. The ANC is urgently looking for votes. Therefore, irresponsible statements and promises are made.
Joe Kleinhans Annlin
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Nonpayment of service fees is a disaster, and it was the ANC’s brainchild
If Soweto’s debt is written off, it goes without saying other municipalities will insist on the same preferential treatment
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is in a merry Christmas mood. He is immediately doing away with the controversial e-toll system of Sanral and wants to write off Soweto’s power debt, after R8bn of it was already written off in 2020.
In contrast, President Cyril Ramaphosa reprimands municipalities and the state department to settle their power bills to Eskom because the outstanding total amounts to more than R50bn.
At the same time the president professes to understand Lesufi's position and asks that "balanced discussions" take place about it. What is "balanced" if the president and premier of SA’s richest province can’t even give balanced guidance?
The nonpayment of service fees is a disaster, and it was the brainchild of the ANC. It was introduced as a means of passive resistance to the then apartheid government. It was so successful that a special task force led by Roelf Meyer and Gen Joffel van der Westhuizen was deployed in the Union Buildings in the early 1990s to try to find a counter to it.
But once you've taught someone not to pay, you don't reverse the habit easily. It has spilled over into the new SA and is growing from crisis to crisis.
The AA has already said keep your money in your pocket, don’t pay e-tolls. Who in Soweto is going to pay these service fees? And if Soweto’s debt is written off, it goes without saying that other municipalities will start insisting on the same preferential treatment.
The nonpayment of service fees was a political move. Writing off any service delivery debt is too. The ANC is urgently looking for votes. Therefore, irresponsible statements and promises are made.
Joe Kleinhans
Annlin
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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