The municipality said it had deducted more than R7 million from its councillors' and permanent employees' salaries who are behind on their municipal bill payments.

The municipality also received an additional R5.2 million voluntary payments from its councillors and employees as 13,323 employees who owe the city, about 140 of them are councillors and 13,183 are staff members.

Director of customer communications for the city's group finance department, Kgamanyane Maphologela, said its employees were expected to be the first ones to promote and implement basic principles of public administration. 

“The credit control action that is taken by the city against its own employees is to demonstrate that we are coming after anyone who owes the city in unpaid municipal bills, It's also a firm demonstration that our credit control policy is enforced indiscriminately including against our own employees, whom we expect to be exemplary in their conduct," Maphologela said.

Maphologela also said that according to the Municipal Systems Act, a staff member of a municipality may not be in arrears to the municipality for rates and services for a period longer than three months, and a municipality may deduct any outstanding amounts from a staff member's salary after this period.

Maphologela also added that in the coming weeks and months, the city will intensify its credit-control drive in a bid to collect outstanding revenue from all  categories of property owners.