Number 6
Friday October 24th 2008
News from Durban:
Correspondence over the last few weeks between various ratepayers and
the municipality has indicated that the municipality is ignoring all
protests and disputes, in the knowledge that ratepayers will eventually
have to capitulate. The problem is that legislation is so vague and so
open to interpretation that the only way to test it is in court. Recent
court cases have not been successful, mainly because ratepayers
associations have limited funds and are driven by volunteers, while the
municipalities have unlimited legal funds (derived from ratepayers!) and
time is on their side. Therefore the only solution is to ramp up the
pressure. The Combined Ratepayers Association (CRA) of Durban is
preparing a strategy to combat this, but it depends on a large number of
people taking part. Therefore it is vital that you forward this mail to
at least twenty people who would like to see an adjustment to their
rates - a future mail will outline our strategy. Additionally, the CRA
is about to spearhead a provincial ratepayers association, which will be
able to harness dissatisfied ratepayers across the province.
A summary of the problems with the Municipal Property Rates Act:
This latest property evaluation was the first time that properties were
valued according to their market value. Based on the new expected
values of the properties, Durban's council approved a rate randage of
0.9 cents in the rand, in order to gather enough income to meet their
latest budget (which has increased by 35%). Council expected that a lot
of new properties would become rateable and that rates would increase by
about 10% to 15%. However, most properties have increased enormously in
value and the evaluation was done during the peak of the property boom
when property values were at their highest. (Almost all properties have
decreased in value since then.) Therefore for most people their rates
increased by 100 - 500%. This huge increase in value has meant that the
actual rates income will exceed the budget considerably. It is
therefore vitally important that the council must be persuaded to
decrease the rate randage (which is the highest in the country). It is
also important that the municipality must delay the implementation of
the new Act till next year - which is the national norm. (By the way,
this anomaly is not confined to Durban - many cities and towns have
over-recovery of rates. Citizens are being stealthily over-taxed.)
Municipal officials have consistently threatened ratepayers who have
called a dispute with the council, that they will have their electricity
cut off. It must be repeated: if you have called a dispute on your
Metro bill, the municipality cannot take any action against you. This
has been confirmed by the City Treasurer.
There are many, many anomalies on Metro bills, and all of these are
grounds for a dispute. Please check your bills closely to make sure
that all charges are accounted for.
For more information on your rights and responsibilities as a ratepayer,
go to the CRA website <http://www.cra-durban.co.za/>
www.cra-durban.co.za
What's happening across South Africa:
National Ratepayers and Taxpayers (NBU) news: <http://www.nabuntu.org/>
www.nabuntu.org (There are currently 210 towns on the NBU's database)
The towns in South Africa where the ratepayers are withholding rates and
are performing services themselves are coming up with some extremely
innovative solutions to waste management. The spearhead of these
initiatives in Sannieshof, where the municipality's job has almost
entirely been taken over by residents (the municipality has done nothing
about this). The lady 'in charge' of Sannieshof, Carin Visser, has now
started an initiative to sort waste and to recycle, has introduced a
biological means of processing effluent that has proved extremely
successful, and is now investigating a mechanism whereby electricity can
be generated from the methane gas given off by sewerage. She recently
had a meeting with the MEC for Local Government where she laid out all
the problems experienced by the town, and we await any action from the
MEC. All this as a volunteer while running her own business!
The Masilonyana Municipality, which is in the Western Free State and
includes the gold-mining towns of Virginia, Brandfort and Theunissen,
has sent a letter to all its creditors informing them that it cannot
meet its current financial obligations. This has fairly serious
implications for service delivery, as no business person will supply
goods or services to the municipality unless there is some guarantee
that they will be paid!
The town of Molteno is experiencing constant water shortages. The
problem appears to be a low water level in the nearby dam and the fact
that only one pump is operational to serve 34 000 people. The NBU has
recommended that Molteno establish a ratepayers association and then use
this citizen muscle to take further steps to compel the municipality to
address the problem.
Johannesburg has been hit by a plague of rats, encouraged by the poor
refuse removal and blockage of drains. The Municipality has had to
employ 69 workers to deal with the infestation. Worryingly, the recent
deadly arena-virus is caused by the presence of rodents, and several
diseases are linked to the presence of rats. Alarm bells should be
ringing if service delivery in South Africa's largest city is so poor
that it raises the spectre of a rat-plague.
The National Tax-payers Union had a second meeting with Helen Zille (the
first one was interrupted by the political upheavals in the ANC). It
appears that Ms Zille was not aware of the extent of service collapse in
South African towns, and was also alarmed to be told that the problems
are as great in DA-controlled municipalities as in ANC or IFP-controlled
ones.
Any ratepayers association from anywhere in South Africa is also
encouraged to send their ratepayers' news to the writer of this
newsletter, so that it can be gathered into the weekly bulletin.
There are many other issues of relevance to ratepayers across South
Africa, and we will attempt to keep you informed on a weekly basis.
Please forward this mail to anyone who might be interested in this news.
If you want back-copies of this bulletin, please contact the writer at
<mailto:nikimoore@webstorm.co.za> nikimoore@webstorm.co.za
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