The City of Johannesburg (COJ) is again battling to implement a SAP project to stabilise the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to improve municipal billing accuracy.
WhatsApp comments, from angry residents using face palms and other emojis, indicate the city has experienced a synchronisation failure triggered by a significant, and seemingly botched, upgrade of its SAP ERP system.
The city has a history of failed SAP implementations. In 2011, ITWeb broke the news that 65 000 account-holders were being plagued with inflated bills and threatened with disconnection if they did not pay up.
This issue was the result of its 2009 bid to implement SAP, under the code-name project Phakama − the R580 million (at the time) plan to move the city’s disparate and legacy billing systems onto a SAP platform. The then mayor, Amos Masondo, denied there was a crisis and said only 8% of residents were affected.
In 2013, the COJ said it suspected its automated billing system had been tampered with after the city’s revenue department reported a serious failure in its customer statement delivery system relating to the April accounts.
Just last year, City Power said it was taking control of electricity billing, in a bid to “resolve the long-standing billing challenges” experienced with the COJ.
Round and round
A recent WhatsApp communication alleges that E-Venus, the City of Joburg’s payment system, isn’t “talking with” the billing system. “It’s like the cashier took your money but the accountant doesn’t know about it. That’s why billing is a mess right now!”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has stepped into the fray, issuing a press statement stating it “is deeply concerned about the city’s ongoing attempts to mislead residents regarding the collapse of its payment processing systems”.
Penned by councillor Chris Santana, the missive goes on to say the DA is in possession of an internal communication shared among staff “confirming that payments made since 19 January have not been reflecting on the city’s system”.
Staff were instructed to stop accepting payments at customer service centres while the system remains offline, says Santana.
‘There’s no problem’
ITWeb was unable to secure a copy of the internal communication, and the city did not respond to multiple requests for comment. However, the city has – according to the DA – issued a statement.
While the city’s website was down this morning, ITWeb was, however, able to locate the contents of the statement through the use of artificial intelligence.
Issued by director of communications Kgamanyane Maphologela, the press release dismissed claims of a system collapse as “incorrect” and “misleading social media claims”.
The city clarified that claims of payments not reflecting on statements were incorrect and that payments made through official channels continue to be processed.
It also says, contrary to the DA’s claim that staff were told to stop accepting payments, Maphologela stated that customer service centres “remain operational and continue to accept payments as usual”.
In addition, Maphologela denies that residents with up-to-date accounts were being disconnected − another claim doing the rounds − asserting that credit control disconnections are only applied to accounts not in good standing.
According to the municipality’s Integrated Development Plan for 2022 to 2027, it is “still working on implementation of the SAP business transformation that will ensure MSCOA [Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts] compliance”.
SAP is the city’s primary tool to comply with National Treasury’s reporting frameworks under the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Santana has rubbished Maphologela’s denial and called “on the city to take immediate action by withdrawing the misleading media release, providing full transparency regarding the system failure, and holding officials accountable for inaccurate communication”.
The political party, which is vying for a win in the local government elections to be held later this year, says “an immediate moratorium must be placed on disconnections until the system has been fully restored and verified”.
Peeved public
Santana notes that residents are understandably frustrated. “Many have paid their bills, only to be told they owe money, face disconnections, or must dispute balances caused entirely by the city’s system failures”.
One alert making the rounds on WhatsApp states, in all capital letters, that there is a “payment mess happening now”. It adds that all payments made since 19 January are not reflecting, while February bills are likely to be delayed.
In all fairness, ITWeb’s correspondent received a bill on 6 February that showed a previous payment was made on time and the amount due was consistent with January.
Yet, other residents are not as fortunate. The communication circulating on WhatsApp recommends that Joburgers pay their bills at Pick n Pay, Checkers, Shoprite, Boxer, some Spars and petrol stations that accept these payments.
It also states that residents can settle accounts via internet or smartphone banking, ATMs, or bank branches.
In what it says is “critical advice”, it cautions people to: “KEEP ALL PROOF OF PAYMENTS!”
A separate communication notes the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s reference system is compromised by the SAP upgrade, so it implemented a temporary system.
Santana says the city “must acknowledge the breakdown instead of denying the lived experiences of residents and compounding the crisis through contradictory communication”.
Shades of grey
In 2009, the city started implementing the SAP project that aimed to move the city’s various billing platforms onto the ERP system to provide a single view of its 1.3 million account-holders.
The project faced widespread criticism following its launch, with thousands of residents finding issues with their accounts.
One Joburg resident, Linus Muller, went as far as to lay a criminal charge against Masondo and then head of finance Parks Tau in February 2011 as a last resort after he was unable to get his billing issues resolved. Tau is now minister of trade, industry and competition.
Muller’s actions followed threat of a class action suit by DA ward councillor David Dewes, and calls from the official opposition for Masondo to resign, because of the billing crisis. It is not known what the result of these actions were.
Issues with the project also resulted in the city being owed R12.1 billion by big business, government entities and households in 2011 – the largest jump of any of the municipalities at the time. The overdue amount was attributed to post-implementation issues with the city’s migration to the SAP system.
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