THE eThekwini Municipality has extended its Debt Relief Programme until the end of the year for account holders who found it difficult to pay-off outstanding municipal debt.
In a statement, DA eThekwini Councillor, Mxolisi Khubisa, said: "In a turnaround decision, the ANC and associates supported an earlier recommendation by the DA to not only extend the program by three instead of two months, but also to institute specific dispute resolution procedures to address certain challenges.
"This decision will afford account holders the opportunity to challenge the debt accumulated irregularly or as a result of miscalculation prior to reaching an agreement on the amount that has to be subjected to the debt relief program."
Khubisa said the DA was of the opinion that the "pay now and resolve disputes later" approach served little to no purpose of addressing issues where debt was irregularly incurred or calculated.
"What sets the present program apart from the normal debt relief policy, is that it allows for a 5% deposit against outstanding debt for residential households with the remainder being defrayed interest free over a period of 36 months. This as opposed to the normal 25% deposit. In the case of business accounts in arrears, the deposit is 10% with the same term period.
"Arrears will be collected along with current usage and account holders are urged to honour the term agreements, as failure will result in interest being lumped back onto the account with subsequent disconnections."
Further detail can be obtained from local Sizakala Centres from today until December 31.