The City of Johannesburg has wiped off R8m in phantom water and power charges but is still demanding R31.5m from the Johannesburg Society for the Blind, leading to severe disruptions at the institution.
Deprived of municipal water since 2020 and plunged into darkness in late 2023, Johannesburg’s only residential sanctuary for the blind remains crippled by a disputed debt mountain originally claimed by the City to be nearly R40-million.
Now, under growing pressure from Joburg activists and community leaders, the City of Johannesburg and its utilities have wiped R8.1-million in billing errors from the accounts of the Johannesburg Society for the Blind (JSB).
Yet despite admitting to multimillion-rand phantom charges, the City continues to demand a remaining R31.5-million across all three municipal accounts, including R27.8-million for water and power alone – leaving the century-old institution trapped in a crippling bureaucratic standoff.
This total erased so far includes a R4.41-million water credit adjustment, R1.18-million in City Power reversals and a newly processed R2.5-million rates rebate and write-off. Yet against the total disputed bill, these multi-million rand paper corrections are a mere drop in the ocean.
The ongoing dispute over the remaining R31.5-million arrears has left the Joburg south Roseacre sanctuary trapped in a bureaucratic stalemate, while its debt is vigorously contested as legally prescribed and uncollectible under the National Credit Act.
These corrections have done nothing to solve the immediate human crisis inside the sanctuary – the only live-in residential, academic and skills development facility in Johannesburg dedicated specifically to training visually impaired adults for independent living.
For nearly six years, JSB has been forced to exist without municipal water (cut off in December 2020) and has spent nearly three years plunged into darkness after City Power pulled main grid fuses in November 2023.
It led to a cutback from 84 visually impaired residents to 48. Donor charity keeps them going with a borehole and basic solar inverters, but residents are forced to live with severely restricted electricity.
Use of the computer literacy labs is now limited. Power limits have disrupted the donor-funded borehole mechanism and set back self-sustainability projects such as hydroponics, which was set to launch to help feed residents and fund the home.
The arrears crisis has drastically altered how the home operates, according to CEO Vangile Nyamathe.
“This billing problem has set us back six years. We have had to cut the number of residents because of electricity and water cut-offs. We can also now only train 10 students per class, down from 20,” said Nyamathe.
“When residents come, we train them to become independent and take care of themselves. Now, with limited electricity, we have to do their laundry and other things for them.
“We cannot keep food in refrigerators as running generators is too expensive, so we have to rely heavily on gas for cooking and water heating, which is exhausting our funds. We even had to stop running our bakery. Residents are restricted to only one live power plug in their rooms.”
Nyamathe said that in recent years, the home’s focus had shifted to meet a critical gap in support for visually impaired youth.
“The industrial workshop previously run here was no longer viable, and we found that older vision-impaired individuals can often be accommodated in elderly care institutions equipped for sight loss,” Nyamathe explained. “We have instead focused on youth who typically get left behind academically because of eye problems. Here, we retrain them to take care of themselves while studying and equip them for open-market jobs.
“We are here to assist blind youth to focus on academics, get their matrics, pursue higher education and enter the world as independent adults. To date, some 200 have already obtained matric through our programme and are out in the workforce.”
The billing disputes span across three distinct municipal fronts.
and off-property meters
According to Michael Lingwood, a community activist helping the home to rectify its accounts, Joburg Water’s claim of more than R18-million remains fundamentally flawed because the utility continues to bill JSB for consumption it does not provide while charging for off-property infrastructure.
Records confirm that Joburg Water physically removed and plugged meter number 080078622 1.2 metres underground on 14 December 2020, yet continued billing active consumption for 15 months – forcing the R4.41-million credit reversal.
More critically, past technical audits revealed that of the five separate water meters assigned to JSB’s account, only two are physically located on JSB’s property. The remaining three sit on neighbouring industrial sites and a nearby flower market.
With zero municipal water entering the facility since 2020, JSB relies entirely on its borehole – which draws 5,000 to 6,000 litres daily – making the City’s historical billing of 100,000 litres per day physically impossible.
Joburg Water’s responseAddressing the plugging of one meter, the R4.41-million reversal, and the off-property meter claims, Joburg Water spokesperson Puleng Mopeli, in a reply to Daily Maverick, stated:
“Joburg Water has taken extensive steps to audit and correct billing anomalies associated with the property account. Following verification that a water line was plugged in December 2020, a significant credit adjustment of R4.41-million was applied to rectify unverified billing.
“However, statutory availability charges for infrastructure connections remain applicable under city bylaws. Joburg Water continues to engage with the property representatives and the City Ombudsman to verify physical meter locations and establish an accurate final liability.”
refusal of Ombudsman lifeline
Lingwood said City Power’s remaining R9.6-million claim is built on post-disconnection estimations and an uncalibrated metering system. After pulling main grid fuses on 30 November 2023, City Power continued issuing estimated monthly bills on a dead account, eventually forcing credit reversals of R826,294 in August 2024 and R356,156 in September 2025 (totalling R1.18-million in credits).
Despite these corrections, the utility continued estimating bills for five consecutive months heading into 2026 on a main meter installed in 2013 that was never legally calibrated.
To break the deadlock, the Office of the City Ombudsman recommended in December 2025 that City Power install a 100-amp 3-phase prepaid meter as an immediate lifeline. JSB, he said, did not ask for free power, but for a prepaid connection so they could run a cold storage room to keep milk and meat from spoiling for residents.
City Power has actively refused to install it, holding basic nutrition hostage until historical disputed balances are cleared, Lingwood claims.
City Power’s responseWhen queried on the multimillion-rand credit adjustments, estimated billing post-disconnection and the refusal to install the prepaid lifeline meter, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena stated:
“City Power handles accounts strictly in accordance with credit control policies mandated by the City of Johannesburg. Fuses were disconnected at the Roseacre property following prolonged non-payment and accumulating arrears. While administrative reversals totaling over R1.1-million were processed to correct estimated billing discrepancies post-disconnection, the outstanding principal debt remains substantial.
“City Power cannot unilaterally bypass credit control protocols to install prepaid meters on properties with unaddressed, multimillion-rand municipal balances until formal authorisation or debt settlement arrangements are finalised with Group Finance.”
The City’s Group Finance Department continues to demand a remaining R3.7-million on rates, even after processing the recent R2.5-million rebate and write-off.
Despite JSB operating as a registered Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) for a century to serve blind civilians, municipal valuers unilaterally stripped the facility of its PBO tariff relief and reclassified the property under commercial “Business” rates – a category 75% more expensive than residential or agricultural tariffs.
Furthermore, municipal valuers pegged the 60-year-old building’s valuation at R19.6-million (versus an independent valuation of R6.8-million) and miscalculated the property size by adding 637m2 that does not exist on the registered title deed, said Lingwood.
JSB’s legal team notes that when corrected to PBO rates over the statutory non-prescribed window, the maximum legal liability is just R842,994, making the City’s remaining R3.7-million demand legally unenforceable under the National Credit Act.
Group Finance Department’s responseResponding on behalf of the City of Johannesburg Group Finance Department on rates adjustments and remaining demands, municipal spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane stated:
“The City of Johannesburg operates under strict financial legislative frameworks, including the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). While we recognise the invaluable social contribution of non-profit entities like the Johannesburg Society for the Blind, property owners hold an undeniable legal responsibility to ensure accounts are maintained in good standing.
“The City’s 12-month Debt Relief Programme remains the appropriate statutory channel for consumers facing arrears to enter into formal debt-acknowledgement agreements. Reconnecting services or issuing new prepaid metering infrastructure without a binding settlement agreement on historical debt sets a precedent that compromises municipal revenue collection.”
Meanwhile, the Office of the City Ombudsman confirmed that while conciliation sessions took place, the formal investigation into JSB’s prescribed debt dispute remains open.
“The Ombudsman’s office initiated conciliation between the consumer and the municipal entities to resolve the billing impasse. However, a final determination report cannot be finalised or closed until City Power and Joburg Water submit their consolidated technical reconciliations regarding the application of the Prescription Act to the disputed balance,” said the Ombudsman.
“The City of Johannesburg has failed the blind people of Johannesburg. It has abandoned us, leaving us to frantically scratch for private funding to remain operational and support vulnerable souls who have nowhere else to go,” said Nyamathe, the JSB CEO.
“For many, we are their only point of contact and their only escape route out of disability reliance into a world where they can become functioning, independent adults.”
The home receives a government subsidy that covers just 20% of its operational budget, forcing management to rely on private fundraising for the remaining 80%. Despite these hardships, the facility continues to transform lives.
Simphiwe Dube (23), from Orange Farm, lost his sight during his primary school years. He attended the Sibonile School for the Blind in Kliprivier before transferring to JSB to complete his high school education. He passed as JSB’s top academic student and is studying software development.
“This place has given me great opportunities that I never thought I would have,” Dube said.
Delene Maleka (23), from Springs, was born blind. She also attended Sibonile School and initially struggled to complete her matric due to vision-related learning barriers. After joining JSB’s specialised academic programme, she matriculated as a top student and is now studying generic management. Her ultimate goal is to study Early Childhood Development (ECD) to support visually impaired children and their families.
“My parents didn’t know how to assist a blind child when I was growing up,” Maleka said. “I want to give back and teach parents the things I had to learn through my own difficulties.”
Concluded Lingwood: “The City has really let the blind people of Johannesburg down. It has left blind and visually impaired residents to freeze in the dark through another bitter winter.
“We are not asking for free power – we have been begging for a prepaid meter that we will fund ourselves just to keep basic heating, hot water and refrigeration running. We are fully willing to pay for current electricity, yet City Power refuses even that basic request to help us survive while sitting on millions of rands in phantom debt.” DM
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