Ratepayers continue to object to tariff increase

THE Westville Ratepayers’ Association (WRA) has declared that they will not be paying rates from July 1 unless the City engages with them. This comes after the tariff increase has been set for the same date. WRA, along with other ratepayers in Durban, have been objecting to the increase, saying it is not justified and there have been poor engagements from the City.

The ratepayers wrote, once again, to the City on June 30 to state that they will not be paying rates until the City engages with them. In their letter, with 25 concerns listed, the ratepayers raised the issue that the response from the City in regard to their concerns, which were submitted in the form of a memorandum in May this year, was poor.

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“None of our concerns were dealt with properly. In regards to the electricity tariff, the City proposed a higher-than-normal tariff and even adopted this tariff without the approval of NERSA, NERSA being the regulator of any pricing tariff the City can impose on its residents. The 2023/2024 budget does not take into account the inclusive needs of ratepayers. Ratepayers cannot be unduly and unjustifiably burdened – our concerns in this regard were not heard,” they stated.

Among other concerns, the ratepayers raised the issue of water loss and the recent floods.
“R615 million litres of water are lost daily, equating to over R2b. No effort is being made to address this except for a higher water tariff. The City’s credit-control policy is failing as the outstanding debt to the City has increased by R4.7b over 12 months in the period of February 2022 to February 2023.

“We also refer to the Auditor General report of last year in which the City has been ‘called out’ for ‘inadequate response to ageing and damaged infrastructure’ which has resulted in materialised risks, such as the storm from Tuesday, June 27, which again shows the inefficiency of the City. [There is] no clear communication in regard to queries and concerns. Again, the poorly maintained infrastructure has taken a beating, and residents have been left without basic human rights for more than 48 hours,” they said.

Also read: Ratepayers continue in their stance to object proposed tariff increase

The ratepayers said they will stand by their words and expect the City to respond within seven days from when the letter was sent (June 30).
“The WRA maintains that we have not been fully engaged, and in our memorandum submitted to the City, we made it clear that we would not be accepting any tariff increase unless this happens. We also made the City aware that unless we have been fully engaged, we would reserve our rights to embark on any action to ensure we are not unfairly burdened,” they said.

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