Twelve lucky Nelson Mandela Bay residents were selected as winners of the grand prize money in the metro's first Pay to Play competition on Tuesday.
The competition, launched in 2016, aimed to encourage consumers to pay their municipal accounts.
The winners were announced by the municipality's head of Budget and Treasury, Retief Odendaal together with the service provider and competition sponsor, EOH's project director, Daniel de Lange.
Six of the consumers each won a cash prize of R5 000 while the other six each won R10 000 with two Chevrolet Sparks still up for grabs at the end of July.
Consumers were automatically entered into the competition and were chosen based on specific criteria related municipal account payments.
Speaking at the media briefing on Tuesday,Odendaal said the collection rate has increased from 88% last year to 93% close to the municipality's 94% budgeted recovery rate.
"We've made significant strides into getting our residents to pay their municipal accounts. It is important to pay and service your municipal accounts, because if you do not pay for your municipal services the municipality cannot continue to deliver services to the broader communities within the Nelson Mandela Bay," Odendaal said.
Algoa FM spoke to some of the winners who expressed their gratitude to the municipality.
Quinten Morris, who lives in Bluewater Bay and won R5 000, said it is was quite a surprise getting a call from giving away money because they generally call wanting money.
While Nonthuse Ngeni from KwaMagxaki who won R10 000 said she was excited about winning and saw this as an answer to her prayers
Ngeni also said that she was happy with what executive mayor, Athol Trollip, and his mayoral committee were doing in terms of motivating residents to pay off their municipal account.
"The municipality under the new leadership is really trying hard now to ensure that the services to the community continue to improve, month on month, year on year," Mike Smith, who also won, said.
