In just the first week of 2023, a battle was unleashed between the Buffalo City Metro and ratepayers when Quigney businessman Steve Bloom decided to take the city head-on citing years of incorrect billing on his account.Bloom told the Dispatch at the time that he had sent emails and visited the city’s billing offices for years without any help.
The city is demanding the payment of outstanding rates and services bills, but has no intention of telling ratepayers which councillors and staff members owe it money.Last week, the Daily Dispatch reported that BCM employees and councillors owe the city R12.8m.
Desperate Buffalo City Metro officials have been forced to slash staff overtime hours, vehicle hire and fleet management costs in a bid to halt the municipality’s slide into a financial crisis.
Buffalo City Metro is working overtime to find creative ways of complying with its own credit control bylaw passed recently by the council. This comes after the city was boxed into a corner over its illegal enforcement of its credit controls. Whenever a customer in arrears buys electricity, BCM takes 80% to service their total debt.
Buffalo City Metro mayoral committee member for finance Noma-Afrika Maxongo and her boss, mayor Princess Faku, have buried the hatchet in a clash which allegedly became physical.