City ordered to repay

PENSIONER'S REBATE: COSTS AWARDED AGAINST JOBURG IN APPLICATIONS

- Roy Cokayne

The City of Joburg has been ordered to apply the applicable pensioner's rebate to the municipal account of an 81-year-old pensioner and reverse the charges on his account from a second water meter not linked to his property.

Acting judge Mohammed Chohan said in a judgment handed down in the High Court in Johannesburg last week that the application by David Phillips is disconcerting because it involves an 81-year-old pensioner “who has had no joy in attempting to resolve his billing disputes with the city”.

“That he has had to seek recourse from this court is most unfortunate and an indictment on the respondent’s [city] constitutional duty and failure to timeously and properly address and resolve the dispute raised by him.”

Chohan said Phillips, the owner of a property in Randburg, had raised three disputes.

The first relates to a pensioner rebate, which Phillips said he was entitled to but which the city had failed to implement, thereby resulting in an incorrect charge being levied.

The second is about Phillips being charged for water in terms of two water meters despite the second meter not being on his property or for his property.

The third complaint is about his application to obtain a prepaid meter to avoid the payment of network charges - but the city finally installed a prepaid meter about a week prior to the hearing, making “the relief sought in this regard academic”.

Pensioner's rebate

Chohan said it is common cause that Phillips is a pensioner and was entitled to a pensioner's rebate.

The city, after “much toing and froing” recognised this and claims it subsequently credited Phillips’s account with such rebate, including interest that had been levied by it, with the result that this dispute had now become moot.