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Data cleanup uncovers massive billing system gaps in parts of Newcastle Municipality
The Mercury
|November 17, 2025
NEWCASTLE municipal manager Zamani Mcineka says the municipality's ongoing debt collection and data-cleansing drive has exposed urgent structural failures in the city's billing system, particularly in townships east of the CBD.
The followup findings come as Newcastle attempts to recover R2.3 billion in unpaid debt, which has left the municipality with a monthly shortfall of more than R40 million.
The Debt Collection and Revenue Enhancement Drive, launched last week in Madadeni and Osizweni, aims to tackle what officials have described as a longstanding "culture of nonpayment" that has severely strained service delivery.
The debt collection drive comes weeks after some Newcastle residents took to the streets to voice their concerns about billing issues.
According to Mcineka, the verification work on the ground has revealed a far deeper problem than anticipated in the area classified as Newcastle East.
"Out of 38 876 households that we were billing, only 5 715 households are paying for their services," he said.
"We have not completed the process. We are still going there today."
This story is from the November 17, 2025 edition of The Mercury.
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