City and residents agree on rates but differ on approach

02 February 2017

 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This age-old question came to mind during a City of Johannesburg’s Property Rates Policy review meeting at the Orange Farm Multipurpose Centre in Region G on Wednesday February 1 when City officials emphasised the significance and importance of paying rates and taxes.

 

Veli Hlophe, Head of the City’s Property Rates Division, told residents who had packed the hall that they would benefit immensely if they paid their rates and taxes regularly.

“The City of Johannesburg wants to improve the lives of its citizens,” Hlophe said. “So, by paying your property rates, you will be helping people in your area to have better service delivery.”

But residents like Christine Mangena of Extension 4 had a different view.

“Our water pipes are leaking. We also don’t have sewer systems. If we’re going to be paying any rates, we’ll need the City to acknowledge these issues first,” Mangena said.

Daniel Hlongwane, also of Extension 4, complained about the City’s “exorbitant rates”, saying they were not justified as his area had no running water or toilets. He claimed the City was imposing high property rates on poor community members such as himself without providing them with basic services.

“It’s been many years now that we’ve been dealing with this problem. We’ve never understood how the system works. I mean, it’s like we’re paying the rates for nothing. We don’t even get our refuse collected by the municipality yet we’re constantly been sent municipal statements to pay,” Hlongwane said.

Another resident, Samuel Chabalala, said: “There are many residents here who are living in bad conditions without being provided with basic services. As the community of Orange Farm, we’re hoping that the rates will be charged in accordance with the size of our properties. We hope that the nature of the conditions we’re living in will also be taken into account.”

Responding to the residents’ comments, Hlophe said the Municipal Property Rates Act No 6 of 2004 required the City to adopt a rates policy annually.

This, he said, governed the property rating process and defined the different categories of properties. He said it also specified the categories of property ownership that might qualify for rates rebates and exemptions.

“This is the reason we’re consulting communities within the City. When we rate the value of a property, we take into account the location and the size of the property. It’s possible that properties located in different sections of this area may have different values,” Hlophe said.

He said the City would visit Orange Farm again, along with its entities, to address the service-delivery issues raised at the meeting.

This was one of 21 Property Rates Policy review meetings being rolled out throughout the City to give residents the opportunity to comment on the current policy and to enable the City to determine categories of properties to be rated.

Two Property Rates Policy review meetings have already been held this week – one in Eldorado Park on Monday January 30 and the other in Lenasia on Tuesday.

The due date for all comments, inputs and submissions is 21 February 2017. Residents can also make comments on the current policy on ratescomments@joburg.org.za.