GEORGE NEWS - A R105m ICT upgrade at George Municipality has once again come under scrutiny after the Good Party raised its concerns about the ongoing billing problems, while the municipality insists the system was lawfully approved and is working as planned.

In a statement issued on Thursday 5 February, Good's Cllr Chantelle Kyd said the billing issues the residents experienced go beyond technical problems and point to failures in leadership and governance. 

Good claims residents are receiving incorrect accounts, struggling with data problems and facing an overwhelmed system, despite what the party says is R105m spent on a new ICT system awarded through a deviation process to Solvern Consulting.

Good argues that deviation procurement of this size is highly unusual and should only be used in exceptional cases. The party has questioned how such a large amount of public money could result in a billing system it describes as "unfit for purpose". 

It calls on the mayor and acting municipal manager to explain how this decision was made and what residents received in return.

Good's demands include full public disclosure of the deviation, the contract, deliverables and pay-ments, as well as clarity on what testing had been done before the system was rolled out. The party has warned that it would take the matter to the Public Protector should these queries not be answered.

Five-year programme

The George Municipality has strongly rejected these claims. Spokesperson Chantèl Edwards says the R105.426m figure does not reflect the money already spent, but the maximum cost of a five-year programme, with the payments spread over time. 

The municipality says the system is part of a long-term project to modernise its financial and billing systems. 

The deviation was approved because the old system could no longer meet National Treasury requirements. Edwards says the Auditor-General reviewed the process and raised no negative findings.

The programme provides for core financial and operational modules, modern reporting and business intelligence tools, and a controlled data migration process with audit and reconciliation safeguards.

The upgraded billing system went live in November as part of a phased roll-out. Edwards says large systems like this take time to stabilise, and that no widespread billing errors have been found. Most queries, she says, relate to residents struggling to access their statements, especially through the Platinum Citizen Portal.

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