The future of the debt relief programme under the eThekwini Municipality hangs in the balance after concerns that this policy is undermining the culture of paying for services and could lead to the collapse of the municipality.
City leaders indicated that while the intention of the policy had been good, there are now fears it could become counterproductive. The city has had several rounds of the debt relief programme to give customers who are struggling to pay their accounts a discount on their debt under certain conditions.
The last two rounds of the policy had resulted in close to R1.8 billion owed to the municipality being paid by customers. The municipality is owed about R43 billion, and close to 75% of this debt is owed by consumers….