Bulletin for May 7th 2010.
Number 36
A PE High Court ruled in February that ratepayers can fire useless and corrupt municipal officials.
Four Kirkwood ratepayers took legal action against their Sundays River Valley municipal manager who had been found guilty of mismanagement during a displinary committee hearing but could not legally be fired. The High Court ruled that Siphiwe Sohena’s contract could be terminated with immediate effect and he was ordered to pay the cost of the application. The court application was also brought against the MEC for Local Government, and a later court will decide if the MEC is also liable. The court action came after the municipality was placed under administration and Sohela put in charge, after he had already been found guilty of mismanagement by a disciplinary committee. I am trying to find contact details for the Kirkwood ratepayers, as I am sure that many people would like to find out the circumstances of their court victory. This is a good way to prevent re-deployment of useless officials who are fired out of one municipality and then pop up in another. This is already happening in Pietermaritzburg, where fired councilors and officials are being offered jobs in other municipalities in KZN.
Three of South Africa’s nine capital cities have been placed under administration. In total, 24 municipalities are under administration. Only six municipalities got a clean audit for the last financial year. However, prof Deon Scott, an economy expert at Unisa, said that the standards for clean audits were far too high, and qualified audits did not necessarily mean that the municipality was in trouble. Scott has identified a bad attitude from municipal officials as an even greater problem than lack of skills or resources. The bad attitude, he says, stems from the high politicization of municipal services and the inflexible labour legislation. Politic infighting can paralyse a municipality, he says. The three capital cities under administration are Tshwane, Pietermaritzburg and Kimberley.
Facts and figures: It is going to cost R75 billion to fix South Africa’s roads, according to Sanral, and this is regarded as a conservative estimate. Most of the problem comes from the fact that municipalities are receiving budgets from National Treasury to fix roads, but are not using these funds correctly. Water Affairs, in the same context, have asked for R100 billion from national treasury to fix the country’s water supply problems. R23 billion is needed urgently to prevent complete collapse. Once again, municipalities have been receiving money but not spending it properly. One simply has to ask where is all the money going? These are questions that ratepayers should be asking of their municipalities – councils receive grant funding from the treasury, as well as service payments from ratepayers. These should be used for capital projects, maintenance and repair. If they are not being used for this purpose, then the municipality is breaking the law and can be prosecuted.
Deadlines for budget input has passed, but ratepayers should still look at their council’s budget. According to law, a maximum of 35% is allowed for salaries. If this figure is being exceeded, then ratepayers can reject a budget and report their municipality to the auditor-general.
Mr Lood de Jager sent an urgent message to the Department of Water Affairs about the fact that the entire effluent of Phalaborwa (6 megalitres per day) was being dumped into the Thutsi stream that runs through the Kruger National Park. De Jager stated that this had been going on since 2007, despite numerous complaints. The Dutch government had donated a treatment plant in 2006, but this had never been used by the municipality and had subsequently been vandalized. A Ms Mamogala Kadiaka, the Director of Water Sector Regulation and Use for the Mpumalanga region, replied to Lood, and arranged a site visit with him. It seems that Ms Kadiaka is on the ball, and might be a good contact for people with water problems in Mpumalanga. Her details are on the website, under Contacts.
In a similar story, tons of raw sewage are flowing into the Sandspruit near Welkom and thence into the Bloemhof dam. We are waiting to hear if the local RA in Welkom has taken any action. Ratepayers can report these instances of pollution to the police, to the Green Scorpions, to the Department of Water Affairs. If you need some moral support, contact Lood of Phalaborwa to find out how he did it.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has been accused by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) of mismanagement and chaotic finances. Salga is supposed to be a municipal oversight body, with funding derived from municipal levies from the 283 municipalities. The KZN branch of Salga, Kwanaloga, is the most chaotic. Almost R18 million of irregular expenditure will have to be written off.
Sasolburg ratepayers took the bull by the horns and fixed a number of potholes in the town. According to Elisbie Kies, who wrote a letter to the municipal manager, the potholes were correctly repaired and up to standard and the work was done with the knowledge of the municipality – although she did say that no-one was working at the municipality on that day as they were all on strike. Sasolburg RA has forwarded the bill for the road repair to the council, and warned that if the bill is not paid the RA will declare a dispute and withhold rates to pay for further repairs. If anyone would like to contact Elisbie about similar issues, her e-mail address is elisbie.kies@gmail.com
All farmers and rural property owners take note: a property that falls within a mountain catchment area is NOT liable for rates.
In Heilbron, the waste dump has been abandoned as the municipality can no longer pay management company Enviro-fill to manage it. The Heilbron ratepayers are already in dispute with their municipality and are trying to resolve the situation so that the municipal dump does not deteriorate beyond repair. For more information on this, please contact Elize Laubscher at 082 – 416-8950 or hgiv@absamail.co.za
Problems have been identified with regard to inconsistent application of property valuations and rates. This was revealed after a Parliamentary briefing between Western Cape rate-payers associations and senior management of the Department of Co-operative Governance. It emerged that there are too many inconsistencies in municipal valuations, and this is something the department needs to look at urgently. 90% of all complaints received by the Department have to do with incorrect municipal evaluations.
A news story that had the Cullinan district ratepayers in a fury, was that the mayor of this bankcrupt municipality bought herself a new R300 000 car, despite the council not having the money to provide services. This has been named as a very good reason to withhold rates, as at least it is not the ratepayers’ money that is being spent in this way.
Mbombela Ratepayers can celebrate a victory – disputers who had their water supply cut off for withholding rates won a court case to have the supply reinstated. Find out more from Mbombela Ratepayers Association by contacting mbombelarates@vodamail.co.za
Johan de Klerk of Rustenburg Ratepayers Association has designed a computer programme specifically for managing issues such as membership, fees, etc of ratepayer associations. If anyone thinks they can run their RA better by using this programme can contact Johan at johan@designersofsoftware.co.za or 082 – 891-3912
Carien Visser of Sannieshof has sent a letter to the local government’s new administrator (the council was placed under administration recently) setting out the reasons for the ratepayers dispute and the conditions for the suspension of the dispute. Carien has always been the most active member of the NBU and has broken ground in many areas. She has a Facebook group and is happy to dispense advice to anyone else with similar problems. Contact her at 083 442 5409 or e-mail flowers2die4@lantic.net
The Sutherland Ratepayers Association has now joined the fray, expressing their frustration with their municipal budget. None of the items outlined in the Mayor’s Programme have been completed, and the council has delayed any public participation until after the budget has been passed – which is against the law. The RA has been advised to submit written questions and, if these are not dealt with, to reject the budget, call in an administrator from the Province, dissolve the council and start the process from scratch. The most immediate implication is that no rates can be levied while this process is underway. Anyone who wants to chat with Sutherland about this, can contact Jannie Symington at sym@hantam.co.za]
Useful contacts: Frik Mulder is an expert on municipal budgets and their implementation. He can be contacted on frik@phambili-energy.co.za
Louis Meintjies is the chairman of the National Water Forum: 082 – 461-7262
Danie Eichstadt is a good contact for advice, he is the chairman of the Dihlabeng (Bethlehem) RA and is very active and informed. Call him on 082 – 336-2353
Tags: contract, kirkwood, PE, ratepayers court judgment, Water Affairs