Mashaba takes aim at businesses for R1bn in revenue collection blitz

Cape Town - City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba is pulling out all the stops to get businesses to square up just under R1bn in outstanding arrears for City services.

Mashaba aims to collect the outstanding money on Monday from over 2000 businesses which have failed to pay for City services.

The citywide mission has been dubbed as a "revenue collection blitz" and will include Johannesburg Metro Police’s Department’s Police Chief, David Tembe, the Head of the City’s Group Forensics Investigative Department, General Shadrack Sibiya, the City’s Head of Legal Services, Isaac Mogashoa and senior officials from the city and entities.

"The collection blitz is a joint intervention between City Power and the Revenue Shared Services Centre to collect arrear amounts owed to the City by businesses across the 7 regions, excluding the areas that are supplied with electricity by Eskom," a statement on Sunday from the Mayor's office explained.

"We are committed to bringing the rule of law back into the City, and ensuring those who can afford to pay for our services, do so."

Mashaba's office added that the money is crucial to the provision of services in the city, particularly for poor residents.

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