Computer system crash disrupts services to ratepayers

A number of computer systems used by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality crashed this week, affecting several departments and services to the public.

Among those affected was the budget and treasury department.

Residents who defaulted on their bills battled on Tuesday to have their prepaid electricity meters unblocked due to the server problem.

The municipality’s credit control policy allows officials to block the prepaid meters of account defaulters until the accounts are settled and a reconnection fee is paid to have the meter unblocked.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the customer care and creditors departments had been affected.

Acting city manager Noxolo Nqwazi has called an urgent meeting to address the problem. She will meet some department heads on Wednesday.

Nqwazi said on Tuesday she had only been made aware of the problem on Monday.

“Our server is down and it is affecting our systems.

“I have just signed the appointment of a service provider today [Tuesday] and the service provider will hopefully come tomorrow and we can fix the problem,” Nqwazi said.

She said account holders should still pay their bills because payments would be processed.

Mniki said the meeting on Wednesday was with officials from the budget and treasury, IT and corporate services departments.

“Until that meeting we cannot talk to the detail of the challenge. A statement will be issued immediately after the meeting tomorrow morning,” Mniki said.

Meanwhile, a message sent out to all staff stated that multiple systems were unavailable. It did not specify the reasons for the problem.

The message added that the payroll system, which deals with staff salaries, was still up and running.