The eThekwini municipality is considering writing off more than R250m in debt owed to it by the Ingonyama Trust.
|||Durban - The eThekwini municipality is considering writing off some of the more than R250 million owed it by the Ingonyama Trust.
This was one of the options put forward for addressing the debt in a report by the city treasurer tabled at the council’s human settlements committee on Tuesday. According to the report, the trust’s debt was for rates, electricity, water, refuse and administration charges, totalling R257m.
The Ingonyama Trust administers land traditionally owned by the Zulu king - about 32 percent of the land in KwaZulu-Natal (including parts of eThekwini) which is occupied by more than 4 million people.
There are two types of properties on trust land: those owned by the trust itself and those on which there are properties “owned” by private individuals through deeds of grant or title deeds.
In 2009, a case was brought to court to determine who was liable for rates in the Ingonyama Trust area. The judge ruled that the owners of deed of grants and title deeds were.
After the ruling the city decided to collect the outstanding rates, and residents were given the option of making arrangements to pay off their debts.
However, in Tuesday’s report, it was recommended that the city write off debt up to 2008/09, the implementation year of the Municipal Property Rates Act.
The reason for this cut-off date, according to the report, was that ratepayers in the Ingonyama Trust area had complained about the property values before the act, as they maintained that they were not given enough information regarding their rights in terms of objections and appeals. As a result, they did not object to the rates imposed on their properties.
Based on this, the office of the treasurer recommended that all customers with property values below R250 000 be covered by the city’s debt relief programme with regards to their water debts. They must also have water flow limiters installed.
The recommendation to write off some of the trust’s debt was met with concern from councillors
Committee chairman, councillor Nigel Gumede said it would have major implications for the city.
“These people refused to pay… but the court ordered them to pay. They must pay so that they learn a lesson,” he said, adding that they did not want to set a precedent where debt was just written off.
DA councillor Heinz de Boer said the city was in a very difficult situation.
The committee resolved to take this issue back to the caucuses for further deliberation.
mpume.madlala@inl.co.za
Daily News