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There is no crisis - Masondo

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 26 Jan 2011

The city's billing system is not in crisis mode, and only a small percentage of residents have been subjected to incorrect and hugely-inflated bills, says Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo.

Masondo notes it is an exaggeration to say the city's implementation of SAP, called project Phakama, has been a failure. He says “some” residents have been affected by problems in databases and with systems processes.

Masondo was addressing the media at a press briefing this morning, shortly after the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for his resignation over the billing crisis. The DA's call followed news that cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Sicelo Shiceka would step in to try and resolve the issues plaguing Johannesburg residents.

However, while conceding that some citizens have been plagued by grossly over-inflated bills, Masondo insists: “The perception, to say that the city's billing system is not yielding appropriate results, is far from correct.”

Improved service

Johannesburg is owed R10 billion by city account holders, of which R6 billion is currently at various stages in the credit control process and the balance of R4 billion is “under investigation”, says MEC for finance Parks Tau. The city has been investigating residents' claims of ridiculous bills.

The city finished implementing Phakama in June last year, six months after the project started. In August, Masondo promised improved service to residents, and said the city was capturing account details and consolidating these onto the unified SAP system.

Yet, despite Masondo's promises, media reports indicate that many residents are extremely unhappy with the city's billing system, citing hugely inflated accounts that cannot be resolved through the call centre, Joburg Connect.

Masondo claims the implementation of the SAP human resources module and the finance module has been successful. Since implementation was completed in the middle of last year, the number of accounts that Johannesburg has been able to issue has grown from 744 852 to a million, he says.

“Of this number, no more than 8% of customers registered queries in respect of their bills. We are working hard, toiling around the clock, to reduce this percentage even further,” says Masondo.

Interface issues

The city has implemented a number of SAP modules, including human resources, finance, customer relations management, land information system and SAP industry-specific solutions for utilities for billing and revenue management.

Masondo says “it is not unique or extraordinary for the City of Johannesburg to have experienced hiccups during and post-implementation”. The city has investigated residents' complaints and discovered that “some of the queries emanated from systems interfaces, while others are human- and process-related”, he says.

Masondo says the city's investigation has also uncovered some “inexplicable errors” that resulted in some residents receiving hugely inflated bills. He explains that the SAP system has checks and balances in place to prevent exaggerated bills being issued, referring these for manual intervention.

However, says Masondo, despite the fact that the system prevents such bills being sent out, staff must have authorised issuing the statements. He says a disciplinary process is under way to hold negligent staff accountable, and further details of the number of staff involved and the sanctions they face will be released later.

Masondo explains that there are currently problems with interfacing these modules with some departments, such as the deeds office and credit control management. A new interface is being tested, says Tau.

There are a number of initiatives under way to improve service delivery, says Masondo, and the city is focusing on improving billing, its call centre, Joburg Connect, and customer service.

He says the city sympathises with residents who have been affected by huge bills. “The idea of a heartless city has no basis whatsoever.”

Masondo says “you can look, and look very hard, but it is very difficult to find companies with the equal amount of our clients”. He points out that around 10 000 properties changed hands every month, and the city offers a multiplicity of services.

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