National government may yet step in to help resolve billing problems that have plagued the City of Joburg for years, as the South African president's pledge to fix the longstanding problems drew loud cheers in Parliament yesterday.
Delivering his State of the Nation Address, Jacob Zuma said government will "support the City of Joburg in Gauteng to resolve problems with the billing system" - an issue he has not mentioned in previous addresses.
However, says ICT veteran Adrian Schofield, government would need to demonstrate "more expertise" in leveraging technology to address challenges than they have shown at national level. "The city's citizens have been living with billing problems for so long that we don't even bother to put it in the headlines anymore," he says.
Schofield says greater commitment is needed if government is to adequately deal with problems which have persisted for long periods.
The city's 2013/14 review of its Integrated Development Plan seeks to cement financial sustainability and resilience by targeting an "80% reduction in the number of bills returned as a result of incorrect or incomplete customer information" by 2014/15. This aims for 100% accuracy in service billings within the same period.
A National Treasury report in December showed the City of Joburg is owed a staggering R17.2 billion in unpaid bills - a situation blamed on the city's waning ability to provide accurate bills, as thousands of residents and businesses complain about receiving wrong invoices.
Municipalities around SA are owed R48.7 billion, according to the report, which puts Johannesburg's amount as the largest in the country.
The city also aims to reduce its billing costs by accelerating the roll-out of electricity smart meters. According to the review document, it plans to install 150 000 smart meters by 2014/15 - a figure it expects will reduce costs by 12%.
In 2015/16, around 250 000 smart meters are projected to cut costs by 18%.
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