The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants an investigation into the City of Johannesburg's backlog of rate clearance certificates, which is holding up the transfer of thousands of houses around the city.
The backlog, which has yet to be quantified, but is believed to have run into “thousands” of certificates, is being blamed on the city's implementation of SAP. The matter has also been taken up by the Johannesburg Attorneys' Association (JAA), which has threatened to take the matter to court if it is not resolved.
The project, code-named Phakama, has recently been in the spotlight after it received a SAP Quality Award, for its successful implementation, according to the city's Web site, despite numerous complaints from residents over inaccurate bills and delays in selling houses.
The city started rolling out SAP in November and December last year, with the pilot phase in the west of the city. Further rollouts were scheduled to run between February and May. The project was expected to wrap up in June. However, the city has not confirmed whether the project has been finalised.
Phakama is the city's plan to move from disparate legacy systems onto an integrated platform that aims to provide better functionality in metered services, billing, collections, customer service and payment processes.
Financial costs
However, the system does not seem to be working as smoothly as it should, with media reports abounding about thousands of certificates being delayed by weeks. This is putting pressure on property sellers and buyers, as property cannot be transferred without a clearance certificate.
In addition, estate agents are not being paid, and there are also reports of deals falling through. The banking sector is also feeling the effects of the backlog, as bonds cannot be settled before the property is transferred.
Barker explains that the monetary loss is mainly felt by the buyer and/or seller, as they are more likely to have to pay occupational rent when there are delays. In addition, the bank is affected because property owners who are in distress cannot afford their bond repayments.
Luthando Vutula, managing executive for Absa Home Loans, adds that any delay that may be caused will have a time impact on the transaction. Vutula says offers to purchase usually have a financial implication for the buyer who lives in the house after sale, but before transfer.
“However, we can confirm that Absa Home Loans' registrations have been relatively consistent across the country,” notes Vutula.
Enough is enough
DA city councillor John Mendelsohn has had enough of the delays by the council, and wants an investigation into the situation. He says there is no question that the delay in issuing certificates is due to the implementation of SAP.
Mendelsohn will table a motion at Thursday's council meeting, asking for a full report on all the issues surrounding clearance certificates, with a view to understanding the cause of the problems, steps taken to rectify the position, and assurance that the management of the process is such that the problem will not recur.
In addition, says Mendelsohn, he also wants an investigation into fake certificates. He says at least 10 forged clearance certificates have been uncovered and thrown out by the deeds registry in the past six months, but that the city's revenue department has not investigated the issue.
Different numbers
The City of Johannesburg has not responded to questions regarding the delay in getting rate clearance certificates issued.
However, Kgamanyane Maphologela, deputy director of customer communications in the Revenue and Customer Relations Management Department, has previously stated that only 2 000 certificates are outstanding at any given time.
Maphologela conceded that, as with the implementation of any new IT system, the city is having “teething” problems. He said the 2 000 outstanding certificates was due to figures not being provided by service departments.
JAA has been meeting with the council to sort out the issue. Acting chairman of the association's property committee Anton Theron says there is progress, although slow.
Theron adds that the matter has not been resolved, because there is a discrepancy between how many certificates its members say are outstanding, and the city's figures. Another meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
SAP Africa says the DA's motion is a matter between the opposition party and the city, and it has no comment on the matter.
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