The National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) has cancelled 45 compliance notices issued by the National Consumer Council (NCC) to the City of Johannesburg, over the protracted billing crisis that has affected thousands of residents.
In the tribunal's second decision on the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), it found the NCC did not follow proper procedures before issuing notices to the city. Johannesburg had objected to the notices, arguing it had already resolved many of the issues cited.
The ruling is a blow to Johannesburg residents, who have been battling to sort out grossly inflated bills and have been unsuccessful in resolving queries through the city's call centre.
There are about 100 000 queries from the city's 1.3 million account-holders around billing issues. Of these, 66 000 date back to last October and another 35 000 are “new” queries lodged since November.
The city has vowed to sort out all the problems by the end of June. Last year, several frustrated residents complained to the NCC about their issues, which were caused by post-implementation issues with project Phakama, a SAP implementation that moved disparate systems onto one platform.
Flawed process
However, the tribunal found the commission did not follow the proper process and did not investigate the matter first, before issuing notices.
In its ruling, the tribunal said it had “some difficulty establishing the exact nature of the procedure followed” by the NCC. As a result, the 45 compliance notices issued to the city in August last year were deemed to be “defective” and have been cancelled by the NCT.
The NCC received “numerous” complaints from consumers around inaccurate bills, accounts not being received, and charging of reconnection fees. The commission said the city had a “cavalier” attitude and its attempts to sort out the problems were “half-hearted”.
NCC commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala has said consumers are being prejudiced, and the commission has done all it can to get the city to respond.
Johannesburg argued the notices should be cancelled, because the NCC did not follow the provisions of the CPA. Although several meetings were held between city officials and the NCC, Johannesburg argued that specific complaints were never discussed.
Wasted effort
Nicholas Hall, an attorney with Michalsons Attorneys, says: “The bottom line is, the NCC messed up.”
Hall explains the NCC did not follow its own procedures when issuing the compliance notices, which led to the notices being cancelled. “Obviously, this is a huge blow for the consumer involved as the amount of time and effort invested in to this matter is effectively wasted.”
The judgment also highlights the NCC's lack of funds and its inability to deal with the volume of complaints, says Hall. The tribunal noted “the fact that [so many consumers] are complaining does not mean that [the NCC] is entitled to cut corners,” he points out.
The NCC has received at least 450 complaints about the city and previously said it needs R100 million to operate effectively. The commission will have to investigate every complaint, but without more resources, judgments will take longer, says Hall.
“From a legal perspective, this judgment is good in the sense that it has brought a lot of clarity in terms of the enforcement procedure and is demonstrating that the tribunal is holding the NCC to account, and making sure it is doing things properly,” adds Hall.
However, the Joburg Advocacy Group, which has received many complaints from residents who cannot resolve queries, is “deeply disappointed in this ruling”. Founding member Lee Cahill says it serves “to demonstrate yet again that it is virtually impossible to hold local government to account for failures in good governance and service delivery”.
Despite numerous attempts to obtain comment, the NCC did not reply, while the COJ was not immediately available to comment.
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