By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gautrain on Tuesday hit back at the City of Tshwane, which has cut services to the Hatfield station, and is now heading to court.
The city argues that Gautrain owes it R10 million.
However, Gautrain said on its social media platform that all Gautrain train services were operational and travelling according to schedule.
They said the disconnection of services was illegal and said they would be heading to court on an urgent basis to force the City to reinstate services.
“Hatfield station has a pre-paid electricity meter and the account is not only up to date but in credit to the value of approximately R120 000. The water account is also up to date.
“We’ve been trying without success to contact the City to provide a statement of account and last night, the City shared a screengrab with us which reflects an account number that differs to the account number reflected on their notice to terminate services.
“The City has illegally cut off services to the station. Given that the water and electricity accounts for the station are paid in full and are up to date, we are calling on the City to urgently reconnect the water and electricity supply to Hatfield station and to avail itself to meet so that we can obtain a full statement of account rather than a screengrab,” the Gautrain said.
The City of Tshwane has been on an aggressive drive to collect billions of Rands owed to it by defaulting businesses, embassies, government departments and state owned companies.
Meanwhile services to taxpayers are continuing uninterrupted at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), despite the City of Tshwane disconnecting utility services at its Ashlea Gardens offices in Pretoria.
Earlier on Tuesday, the City disconnected services at the building due to an unsettled utility bill. The City last week embarked on a campaign to disconnect services to all defaulters. It said residential customers owed the City around R8 billion, businesses R4 billion, and government departments and embassies R1.3 billion. In a statement, SARS apologised for the inconvenience.
SARS said: “We wish to put it on record that the building occupied by the organisation does not belong to SARS. It is a leased property and to date, all services have been paid for, in full and on time.
“We sincerely apologise to taxpayers for the inconvenience that this may have caused. We will engage with the owners of the property, with the view to have this matter attended to as a matter of urgency.”
In the meantime, the office is using a generator and remains operational.