Telecoms crisis continues to paralyse Joburg — with no solution in sight until end-August

The Johannesburg municipality will get fully restored mobile and telecommunications services only at the end of August, leaving citizens fighting to pay accounts and access municipal amenities.

Blaming its unpaid R4.8-million Telkom tab on a routine financial year-end shutdown on 30 June, the City claims payment processing was paused while invoices were accrued for the new financial year. It confirmed that full service won’t be restored until the end of August as officials rush to switch to another service provider under the Treasury’s RT15 framework.

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Joburg blames ‘service provider migration’ for Telkom mobile and landline cutoffs fiasco

July 30, 2026

The admission came as the metro plunged into further chaos on Tuesday, with central server failures and a complete blackout of the main municipal website, www.joburg.org.za, knocking out billing and account portals citywide.

The systemic network failure left staff helpless and led to hundreds of ratepaying residents being turned away at customer service centres across all seven regions, including the City’s flagship Thuso House Revenue Centre in Braamfontein.

Confronted with the total collapse of its central 011 407 landline range — which links the Metro Centre, regional offices, and executive leadership — the City offered a bizarre defence: it claims those primary numbers were scrapped three years ago.

The City claimed it discontinued its Telkom landline services on 13 September 2023 upon vacating the damaged Metro Centre in Braamfontein to avoid “fruitless expenditure” on idle infrastructure. The City insists it migrated to an integrated Avaya enterprise telephony platform to handle voice communications across departments.

“Maintaining idle telephone infrastructure would have resulted in the continued payment of monthly rental charges for services that no longer served any municipal purpose,” the City said, stating that call centres and critical services remain fully functional under the new platform.

That claim directly contradicts the daily reality for ward councillors, staff, and ratepayers. Official council statements, press releases and public directories have routinely directed residents to those very same 011 407 numbers.

The Telkom link

Telkom provides the City of Johannesburg with not only its corporate voice switchboards and mobile contracts, but also the high-speed data fibre circuits connecting regional branch offices to central municipal databases.

The combination of server failures, an inaccessible website, unserviced walk-in centres and dead phone lines has left ward councillors and ratepaying residents entirely cut off from municipal management, crippling the resolution of account queries and the escalation of service delivery breakdowns.

Accompanying a resident to Thuso House on Tuesday to apply for a senior citizen’s rates rebate, Daily Maverick watched as a polite service agent tried — and failed — to process the paperwork. The clerk pointed to a desktop error message, explaining the system had been down since last week.

Unable to say when systems would be back up, staff turned the resident away with an email address (regionfrevenue@joburg.org.za) and strict instructions: don’t come back until you’ve emailed us and received confirmation that the system is online again.

Sources close to the situation suggest the City’s true telecommunications debt — spanning fixed lines, mobile and data — is far higher than the year-end figures officials admit to, following months of unpaid bills. Telkom declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

Call centres strained

Conceding that line disruptions have severely strained alternative communication channels, the City acknowledged long wait times at its central call centre (0860 56 28 74) and apologised to frustrated ratepayers.

“During periods of exceptionally high demand, some callers may have experienced longer-than-usual waiting times, for which the City apologises,” the municipality stated, encouraging residents to utilise online platforms like e-Joburg or walk-in customer centres — channels that are currently blocked by the network outage.

What residents can no longer access online

With both www.joburg.org.za and e-Services portals unreachable due to the network outage, residents, developers and businesses remain locked out of essential services:

● e-Joburg statements and accounts: Residents cannot view monthly municipal accounts, download historical PDF tax invoices, check outstanding balances or negotiate online payment arrangements.

● Property transfers and rates clearance: Conveyancers and property sellers cannot track or verify municipal rates clearance applications required by the Deeds Office to register property sales.

● Building plans and spatial planning: Property owners and developers cannot track the status of submitted building plans, check planning approvals or access the Corporate Geo-Informatics (CGIS) online.

● Valuation roll queries: Homeowners cannot access or submit Section 78 objection queries regarding property valuation rolls.

● Fault logging and service alerts: Residents cannot log non-emergency service faults online (such as water leaks, sewerage blockages or traffic light outages) or view official suburban service delivery alert updates.

● Tenders and media releases: Business vendors are locked out of viewing public tender bulletins, procurement documentation and official council media notices.

Essential numbers

In light of severed administrative switchboards and ongoing municipal system disruptions, residents needing assistance are advised to use specific operational channels:

● Life-threatening emergencies: Dial the functional emergency dispatch line directly on 011 375 5911.

● Logging service faults (water, electricity, sewerage, traffic signals): Call the central Joburg Call Centre on 0860 56 28 74 (0860 JOBURG). Use the e-Joburg portal at www.e-joburg.org.za or official City of Johannesburg social media platforms to log breakdowns digitally once connectivity is restored.

● Billing and account matters: Manage account payments and view statements via www.e-joburg.org.za or visit a local customer service centre in person once servers return online.

● Refuse collection tip: Keep wheelie bins secured inside property boundaries until active Pikitup collection crews are physically spotted on your street to prevent overflowing litter during labour backlogs. DM