Residents continue to object to proposed tariff increases

RESIDENTS unhappy about the proposed tariff increases in eThekwini, marched to the city hall last Friday. The group also comprised civil bodies, including the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and the Chatsworth and District Civic Federation.

In March, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda proposed tariff increases. Among the proposed increases were a 21.91% electricity hike for businesses and households, a 14.9% hike in water for households and 15.9% for businesses, and an 8.9% rise in rates.

Refuse removal may increase by 8% for households and between 7 to 9% for businesses, sanitation at 11.9% for households and 12.9% for businesses. If approved, these would come into effect on July 1.

Denise Seekola and her husband, Alec, have two children. They live in Chatsworth. They said there was no future in South Africa for their children.

“At this point, our children will fare better overseas. With all of these increases there is absolutely no reason for our children to stay in South Africa,” said Denise.

“There are no jobs and everything is going higher except for salaries. Groceries are becoming more expensive and the cost of living has become unbearable.”

Alec Seekola, chairperson of the Westcliff Civic Association, said: “In our ward, people are suffering. I have been working for the Department of Economic Development for 15 years. Our government is doing its best, but I think there are many spokes in the wheels that we need to attend to.

“If we get leaders based on merit and not political affiliation, there will be progress in this country. Competent leaders are lacking at the moment.”

Raj Gopaul, a Merebank resident, said: “A lot of us are suffering as a result of the presently proposed increases. We just had a 50 basis points repo rate increase. How on earth are we meant to survive this?

“The municipality does not seem to care about its residents and this is quite unfortunate. There is no money. It seems that we are merely supporting

the government because all they do is take our money and we are seeing no returns from it.”

Ringo Naidoo, a Bluff resident, said: “We are not getting service delivery but we are expected to pay these increases. This does not make sense. If we were getting services we would be happy to pay, but unfortunately we’re not sure what are we paying for? This is not value for money.”

The municipality recently presented its budget during its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshow. This was an opportunity for further concerns to be discussed with residents.

The eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA), an umbrella body for 60 ratepayers associations in the region, opposed the proposed tariff increases.

In a memorandum handed over in April last month, the civic body called for the municipality to deliver services before imposing tariff increases.

In response to the roadshow, Ish Prahladh, ERRA chairperson, said: “The budget was presented to the ratepayer and civic associations by deputy mayor Zandile Myeni and her officials. We all reject the increase as ERRA.

“Service delivery is under 40% and only if the municipality gets their act together then they can look at increases. For now, it’s a blatant no.

“We are losing money with fraudulent officials, fraudulent tenders and incompetent service providers and if this is stopped then we would not need increases.”

Yogis Govender, DA eThekwini executive committee member, said the party had received more than 15000 objections to the tariff increases.

“As the DA, we believe that the petition was a critical element in the public participation process of the budget.

“We have on occasion had partial success with making acceptable representations on tariffs with the ruling party. A petition of this magnitude cannot be ignored and we are hoping that residents achieve some success in reducing some of the increases even if it is by a few percentage points.

“At this point, we have not screened the submissions to see which organisations or ratepayers have signed, but we urge them to support this important consultation process.”

The municipality said objections to the increases were still being tallied.

In a response to POST, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, the municipal head of communications, said: “All comments sent through to us or received via our public consultations are highly valued. All comments received are considered and this plays a huge factor in how decisions are made on what to prioritise.”