Mandla Radebe from Norkem Park writes:
Ekurhuleni residents will soon be hit hard by an increase in fees for services, as announced by the city’s MMC for finance, Clr Doctor Xhakaza, on May 23.
The cost of living is unsustainably high for residents, and the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) seems to be out of touch with its residents’ ability to pay for city living. I judge this from the justification given for the tariffs the residents will have to pay from July 1.
Some years ago, I pointed out the unsustainable nature of these out-of-sync services pricing. The South African Local Government Association (Salga) is a forum where these numbers are discussed by local governments and subsequently taken down to residents in prospective cities.
Salga as a forum has office bearers who are paid market-related salaries. Municipalities pay an affiliation fee to belong to the organisation. However, no one knows in whose interest is Salga acting, given the number of service delivery protests we see daily.
The tariffs residents are charged are parasitical, if you consider what residents get for it. I am not sure about other parts of the metro, but in Kempton Park we have had a huge problem with refuse collection, with no communication from the metro, not even an apology.
However, refuse collection is becoming more expensive, hiked by by 7.5 per cent.
Xhakaza actually lied about the CoE services pricing, claiming they are cheaper than those of other metros. The infographic suggests something different.
Now the reasons given have been justified, but they are somewhat smoke and mirrors.
• Property rates increase is priced by adding 2.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent which is a CPI as at the end of the first quarter of 2019. The question is, why in such economic conditions would any layer of government charge higher than CPI when it is an indicator of how price pressurised the customer is? How pro-poor is that?
• Sanitation increase of 11 per cent is justified as the ‘cost of sewer purification processes undertaken by ERWAT’. Cost to the customer cannot always be based on the service provider’s cost.
If this is true, why is Xhakaza not revealing the exact cost of ERWAT? The CoE is a government entity, not a commercial one. How sustainable is the cost-based pricing to residents?
• Refuse increase of 7.5 per cent is said to be ‘based on the increase of the main cost drivers of the service’. I have already made the point about cost, and the fact that I will never trust it unless revealed, but refuse is a problem-child of the municipality, and they seem unable to solve it as it comes back severely every time we think it is sorted out.
• Water which increases by 15 per cent is said to be ‘equal to that pronounced by Rand Water’. This is inconsistent with what I read from the City of Tshwane budget (May 23, 2019) which read as follows: “Rand Water has not communicated the increases for bulk water yet.”
Yet, the CoE is charging the highest price ever under worse economic conditions. Talk about the caring and pro-poor government. Where is 15 per cent coming from, economic growth?
• Electricity which will cost 13.87 per cent higher, is said to be based on Nersa’s announced 15.63 per cent in favour of Eskom. Eskom is not facing a price pressure problem. It is nationally recognised that they have a management problem, but of course the City of Ekurhuleni will wash its hands off that.
