Sandton City, one of Gauteng’s most opulent shopping malls, has refuted claims that it owes the City of Johannesburg R158 million in water and power bills.
On Wednesday, the City of Johannesburg launched a revenue collection push similar to the #TshwaneYaTima revenue collection campaign launched by the City of Tshwane. Water and power have been removed from government departments, commercial businesses, and institutions in Tshwane because they were in arrears on their municipal payments.
Officials from the City of Johannesburg announced on Wednesday that nine properties in Sandton, including office parks and municipal facilities, had been targeted. Sandton owes the city a staggering R158 million.
“The City has issued notices of termination of services and the organisations we will be visiting today have been given 14 days to respond with the option to settle the outstanding amount or make arrangements for settlement.
“Nine buildings will be visited today in the City’s efforts to recover some of the biggest municipal debts. There’s over R38bn in municipal debt that is owed to the City, the biggest debt belonging to Sandton City of R158m.”
City of Johannesburg
In a statement, the shopping centre said the owners are aware of the social media comments relating to the drive embarked on by the City of Johannesburg to terminate services to properties that are in any arrears.
“Our municipal accounts are all up to date except that there is currently a dispute with the City of Johannesburg regarding the rates & taxes for the centre.
“Sandton City & the CoJ have agreed to hold over legal proceedings instituted by the CoJ in respect of outstanding rates & taxes pending the finalisation of the Valuation Appeal Board hearing to determine the correct valuation of Sandton City for rates purposes,” the shopping centre said.