UPDATE: Mandeni farmers battle rate increases

Mandeni farmers have once again slammed the local municipality and accused them of backtracking on their promise to relook at a proposed 206 percent increase on their rates.

Two months ago, farmers together with officials from the Mandeni municipality and the Canegrowers Association met to discuss objections to the dramatic rate increase of farm rates.

Despite verbal promises from municipal officials that the increase would be looked at, farmers have last week started to receive invoices which included the increase.

Mandeni resident and executive member of the Mangete Development Committee and administrator of the Southern and Northern Mangete Development Trusts, John Hunt said they had not received any feedback from the municipality after the meeting and were shocked to see an unusually high amount charged to him and other local farmers for rates.

Also read: Farmers boiling over rates

“The increase was from 0.0031 to 0.0159 for this financial year. My personal account which I received for a small 40-hectare farm was R701.42 when previously I was paying R70.

“Many of the property valuations on some farmland has not been processed and this would mean that we are being incorrectly billed and that we will now pay more money for rates than we make. The invoices make things official and it tells us that the municipality does not care about the concerns of the residents.”

Hunt believes farmers are being targeted by the municipality.

“They have budgeted to increase their revenue by over 10 percent of which over 70 percent will be financed by increases to their property rates. We receive no service from the municipality but they now want to milk us for more money. We will continue to fight to oppose this increase.”

However, Mandeni municipal manager Sizwe Khuzwayo said the rate increase was high because three agricultural categories had been reclassified as one, with a single standard rate.

Also read: Letter: What is the logic of farm rates?

He said this was explained in a letter to Hunt.

“In the process of combining all these categories, we had to strike a balance and come up with a single balanced tariff. It was quite obvious that others were to benefit from this process while those who have been benefiting over the years will have to put in a little bit more in order to match up with the other farmers.”

Khuzwayo said the municipality had suffered a loss of close to R3 million because of the re-categorizing of rates and denied that farmers had been targeted.

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