Soweto residents get vocal at property rates hearings

22 February 2016

 

Soweto residents complained during a Property Rates and Taxes Review Policy meeting at Protea Glen Library at the weekend that their monthly bills were too high and called on the City of Johannesburg to introduce a flat rate billing system.

 

Some of the residents appealed to the City not to send their bills via SMSs as they still preferred receiving them via the post.

Saturday’s meeting formed part of round one of a public consultation process aimed at giving residents the opportunity to contribute to the content of the new policy and to ensure that property rates were equitable and affordable. The second and final round will take place in April and May during which time the new proposals and feedback will be incorporated into a draft document and presented to the public for comment.

Other round-one meetings have already taken place in Bramfischerville, Orange Farm and Ennerdale. More will be held this week in Eldorado Park, Midrand, Springfield and Orlando East. On Saturday residents said some of the SMSs warned defaulters they would have their cases handed over to debt collection agencies or the City’s lawyers if they did not honour their obligations. They also claimed that should they still fail to settle their debts their houses would be sold on auction to recover money owing.

Diametsu Buganda of Central Western Jabavu said she was up to date with her payments but was surprised to receive an SMS warning her to pay or her water supply would be cut off. Some of the residents claimed they still received statements reflecting they were in arrears even though they were using prepaid meters.

Christina Nhlapo, 71, of Klipspruit Extension, who is living with her disabled son, said she was shocked to receive a statement showing she was R14 000 in arrears for water and rates. She said she had lodged her complaint at the Pimville municipal offices to no avail.

Adeline Mogotsi of Fox Lake, Dlamini, who has been unemployed since 2013, said she was worried she might lose her house because she owed the City more than R40 000. Mogotsi said she received numerous SMSes and phone calls to remind her she was in arrears but had no clue where she would get the money from to pay her debt.

Seipati Mokoena of Dobsonville Gardens said she was being threatened by the City’s lawyers over a disputed R20 000 bill. She called for the introduction of a flat rate system, which she believed would be affordable to all residents. Dumisani Hlatshwayo of Protea Glen, who recently made improvements to his house, asked City officials why the value of the property had increased.

“Leave us alone. These are our homes, not yours," Hlatshwayo said.

Another resident voiced her dissatisfaction about the “don’t-care-a-damn" attitude of some of the personnel at walk-in centres, saying they did not deserve to serve the people.

Tandisizwe Sidubulekana, the City’s Rates Policy Specialist, said evaluations were done through an optometry system, taking into account factors such as proximity to clinics, schools, transport and shopping malls. Sidubulekana said there were rebates for pensioners whose gross household monthly income was less than R7 850.

Pensioners aged 70 or older whose properties were valued at not more than R2-million received a 100% rebate. He said a pensioner whose gross monthly income was higher than R7 850 but lower than R13 457 and whose property was valued at not more than R2-millon was entitled to a 50% rebate. Residents can also submit comments on the current policy on the City’s website www.joburg.org.za, via email onRatesComment@Joburg.org.za or at any Customer Service Centre citywide.

Residents have until March 15 to make their submissions.