The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg is deeply concerned about the City’s ongoing attempts to mislead residents regarding the collapse of its payment processing systems.
On 1 February 2026, an internal communication was circulated among staff confirming that payments made since 19 January have not been reflecting on the City’s system. Staff were also instructed to stop accepting payments at Customer Service Centres while the system remains offline.
However, the City’s Group Finance Department subsequently released a statement denying these issues that there are systemic issues.
The DA calls on the City to take immediate action by withdrawing the misleading media release, providing full transparency regarding the system failure, and holding officials accountable for inaccurate communication.
Additionally, an immediate moratorium must be placed on disconnections until the system has been fully restored and verified.
The DA will escalate this matter to the Mayoral Committee and demand a full, transparent audit of the system outage, including the timeline and root causes of the failed uploads.
Residents are understandably frustrated. Many have paid their bills, only to be told they owe money, face disconnections, or must dispute balances caused entirely by the City’s system failures.
The City must acknowledge the breakdown instead of denying the lived experiences of residents and compounding the crisis through contradictory communication.