From: Joburg Advocacy Group <jag-sa@telkomsa.

net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 11:55 AM
To: 'grobler@lsnp.org.za'
Cc: Charmaine Zambetti; Wendy Davidson; Jim Powell;
'motila@lsnp.org.za'
Subject: Request for an Investigation into VVM Inc.
Attachments: Annexures for Plot 4.pdf; City Power MD Letter.pdf; Joburg Power
.pdf;
Van de Venter Mojapelo letter 2011.doc; VVM 2.jpg; VVM 1.jpg
Importance: High
Categories: Urgent/Important, JAG
Attention: Director M J S Grobler
The Law Society of the Northern Provinces
cc. Ms M Malatji, Head: Disciplinary
Dear Mr Grobler,
The Joburg Advocacy Group (JAG) has been referred to you by veteran consumer jou
rnalist and
commentator, Jim Powell.
We are currently conducting an advocacy campaign on the Joburg billing crisis an
d have received a
number of complaints about what appear to be unethical or, indeed, illegal actio
ns on the part of the
City of Johannesburg s attorneys, VVM (Van de Venter, Mojapelo Inc.).
The most recent of these complaints (see e-mail below and related attachments) w
as received this
morning, and we are forwarding this on to you as we believe it demonstrates a di
sturbing trend.
It appears:
* VVM is issuing final warnings for municipal accounts that are in dispute
, regardless of the fact
that the recipients have city-issued reference numbers for their disputes or hav
e, in some cases,
dealt directly with VVM officers to inform them of the disputes.
* These final warnings are being issued without accompanying statements wh
ich, according to
legal advice sought by today s complainant, Charmaine Zambetti, is illegal. As you
will see from
the attached correspondence sent through by Ms Zambetti, VVM actually places the
onus on
the consumer to obtain a correct statement, even though approximately 85,000 mun
icipal
accounts are, by the Mayor s own admission, currently incorrect. Approximately 60,
000 of these
are in dispute, many of them for several years.
* Many of these final warnings are based on erroneous and highly contested
interim electricity
charges, where the city is unable or unwilling to prove actual consumption.
* Many are being issued in cases where, according to the recipient s own cal
culations, the account
is actually in credit.
* The final warnings being issued appear to be part of a campaign to intim
idate residents into
paying disputed amounts under threat of cut-offs, further legal action, blacklis
ting etc.
* Demanding payment under these circumstances is, we believe, extortion an
d therefore a
criminal act.
* We are also concerned that many municipal accounts (a) do not reflect pa
yments made by
residents, although these payments are apparently captured on the city s billing s
ystem; (b)
reflect interest being charged on the resulting arrears ; (c) reflect interest bein
g charged on
extremely high erroneous amounts; and (d) reflect unexplained administration or
miscellaneous amounts. This lead us to believe that there might be widespread frau
d taking
place in the municipal billing system and that, by acting on the city behalf, VV
M may be actively
perpetuating this state of affairs.
We therefore appeal to The Law Society for the Northern Provinces to investigate
this situation as a
matter of urgency and, if VVM is found to be acting either unethically or illega
lly, for the firm s right to
operate as attorneys to be withdrawn.
We thank you in anticipation for your kind consideration.
Sincerely,
Lee Cahill
We invite you to view other case studies on our Facebook page or to follow JAG s w
ork either on our web
site or on Twitter. All relevant details are given in my auto-signature below.

Lee Cahill (Ms)

Founding Member
Joburg Advocacy Group
Working for best-practice governance in the City of Johannesburg
P.O. Box 28557
Kensington
2101
South Africa
Telephone: +27 (0)11 614 0690
Fax2Mail: +27 (0)88 011 614 0690
e-Mail: jag-sa@telkomsa.net / lee.cahill@telkomsa.net
Web: http://jag-sa.blogspot.com
Facebook: Joburg Advocacy Group (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joburg-Advocacy-
Group/103790946366051?ref=ts)
Twitter: @JoburgAdvocacy

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