MATJHABENG – A complete collapse of Matjhabeng Local Municipality’s financial system has left residents across the municipality unable to pay for services, while municipal revenue collection and finance operations have been severely disrupted.
The municipality’s SOLAR financial system has reportedly been offline for two consecutive days, with officials attempting to access the system receiving a message stating: “Solar System Suspension. Access to Solar has been restricted due to your current account status with BCX.”
Solar System Suspension. Access to Solar has been restricted due to your current account status with BCX.
BCX (Business Connexion), the municipality’s service provider and host for the SOLAR system, is reportedly responsible for the platform.
The outage is affecting residents in Welkom, Odendaalsrus, Allanridge, Hennenman, Ventersburg and Virginia, who are reportedly unable to make payments through the municipality’s normal cashier and billing systems.
The disruption has also affected municipal employees. According to information received by NovaNews, employees in the Finance Section were unable to perform their duties and were forced to leave the workplace.
Revenue collection hit
The collapse of the system has potentially serious financial implications for Matjhabeng, particularly as the municipality relies on the billing and cashier systems to collect revenue from residents and businesses.
Sources within the municipality’s Finance Department claim that BCX has raised concerns about outstanding payments on several occasions since 2021.
According to these sources, repeated concerns about the municipality’s account allegedly failed to result in the outstanding amounts being settled, ultimately leading to the suspension of services.
The reported suspension comes at a time when Matjhabeng is already facing significant service-delivery and financial challenges.
With the SOLAR system offline, residents who want to settle their municipal accounts may also be left uncertain about how and where payments can be made without the normal billing and cashier infrastructure.
Calls for answers
The situation has prompted calls for the Municipal Manager, Chief Financial Officer and Information and Communication Technology Department to urgently engage with BCX to restore the system.
There are also calls for the municipality to provide residents with a clear explanation of the outage, including when normal services are expected to resume and what alternative payment arrangements are available in the interim.
Questions have further been raised about why a critical municipal IT service provider was allegedly not paid despite the municipality having budgets and appropriations for essential services.
Council has been urged to investigate the circumstances surrounding the reported non-payment and determine whether internal financial and administrative failures contributed to the suspension.
For residents, however, the immediate concern is straightforward – they want to pay their municipal accounts, but the system they depend on is offline.
NovaNews has approached Matjhabeng Local Municipality for comment on the reported SOLAR suspension, the outstanding BCX account, the impact on revenue collection and alternative arrangements for residents wishing to make payments.
The municipality’s response will be added when received.
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