The City of Johannesburg would seek to resolve at least 66 000 billing queries by the end of June, mayoral committee member Geoffrey Makhubo said on Monday.

“New queries will be resolved in 30 days. That is our promise to the residents of Johannesburg,” he said in Johannesburg.

The number 66 000 reflected the total number of outstanding billing queries at present.

Makhubo was briefing reporters after city officials met deputy performance monitoring minister in the presidency Obed Bapela to discuss the city’s billing problems. Bapela, who attended the briefing, said residents had been calling the presidency’s hotline about their billing problems in the city.

“They said they were not being helped, so we had a two-hour meeting with the city this morning [Monday]. We are quite satisfied as the presidency with the response given by the city… Some matters are beyond them.”

Bapela said the visiting delegation could see some improvements at the city’s customer relations centre. “Unfortunately, we arrived when the system is down… We spoke to a customer who said the usual waiting period is 15 minutes. We call on Jo’burg residents to raise their problems, but they should also pay for services.”

He said the presidency would also visit other municipalities to see what problems they faced. — Sapa