New municipal costs spark protest

RESIDENTS in Effingham and Parlock protested last week over the eThekwini Municipality tariff increases which would be effective from July 1, the start of the new financial year.

According to Princess Nkabane, a spokesperson for the municipality, property rates will increase by 4.9%; refuse, 4.9%; water, 8.5%; sanitation, 8.5%; and electricity, 14.59%.

The protest was arranged by the African Democratic Change.

Kriba Venkadu, a resident of Effingham, said the poor and middle-income homes would be affected the most.

“It will have a severe effect on their monthly household budgets. Some people are living on food hampers. I don’t know how they will now pay their municipal accounts,” he said.

Rodney Ramdeyal, of Parlock, who is unemployed, said costs were increasing so that municipalities could absorb the losses from the informal sector, which get free water and electricity.

“They don’t pay rates or any other charges, but we have to,” he said.

Michelle Dickens, the chief executive of TPN Credit Bureau, said municipal usage charges were escalating faster than the consumer price index.

“The quality of municipal services shows a corresponding deterioration. Last year, the office of the auditor-general reported that only 20 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities received clean audits for the 2018/2019 financial year,” Dickens said.

She said persistent load shedding and the inability of many municipalities to restore power because of faulty infrastructure were adding to the frustrations of property owners and tenants.

“According to the Municipal Property Rates Act, rates should be commensurate with the extra cost of providing local government services, so that ratepayers are not unnecessarily over-burdened. In reality, escalating municipal rates have not been accompanied by a simultaneous improvement in services,” she said.

Dickens said according to data released by the South African Cities Network, municipal charges were accounting for a growing proportion of household costs.

The average municipal bill, according to the data, ranged from R1 425 to R6 119. Electricity charges accounted for the largest proportion of each bill at between 42.3% and 54.7%. Water was the second biggest cost, from 16.7% to 28.2%.