By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Multiparty Coalition Government in Tshwane briefed the members of the media regarding key milestones across multiple service delivery areas in the city.
The media briefing was led by the Executive Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, Deputy Mayor, Eugene Modise and Members of the Mayoral Committee.
Moya hailed the tabling of budget as one of the key milestones achieved by her administration since coming into office 175 days ago. This is a first for the capital city in three years, with the last funded budget having been tabled in 2021/22.
She believes this is a key step towards securing the city’s financial stability and ensuring consistent and reliable service delivery.
She also announced that the R4.7bn VAT debt linked to the cancelled Peu smart meter contract has now been fully settled.
Moya said the city has made a final payment of R128 million, clearing the debt in full.
“The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has formally acknowledged the settlement. This marks a major milestone in closing a difficult chapter in the city’s financial history and demonstrates the multi-party coalition government’s resolve to clean up the past and build a sustainable future,” she said.
Two years ago, former mayor Cilliers Brink revealed that the city owed the SARS a staggering R4.7 bn in unpaid VAT and penalties, stemming from the ill-fated Peu contract, which was awarded irregularly in 2013 and later invalidated by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
Under Moya’s administration, the city’s debtors’ book has seen a huge reduction, from nearly R30bn to R25,69bn as of March 31, 2025.
She attributed the progress to intensified revenue collection efforts, including the Tshwane Ya Tima campaign and the debt relief scheme approved by the council.
Moya said the city’s debt relief programme made strides with R2,42bn written off from registered indigent accounts and an additional R1.83bn cleared from over 31 500 inactive accounts.
The city has received an overwhelming response to its debt relief scheme, with over 10 200 applications submitted so far.
Moya also gave an update about the project to deliver water to Hammanskraal residents. “Due to several delays in the rollout of the Klipdrift Project, Magalies Water has revised the completion date for Module Two to the end of April,” she said.
She detailed the establishment of a monthly executive audit tracking committee to monitor the city’s progress in its efforts to claw back from the adverse audit findings made by the auditor-general (AG) last year.
“In our efforts to achieve an unqualified audit, which remains a priority for this administration we appointed the AG to conduct a pre-audit and in doing so have furnished them with the files which were submitted on March 31.