The government and the National Taxpayers' Union (NTU), representing about 70 organisations of mainly white ratepayers that are boycotting paying municipal rates to protest against poor service delivery, have reached a compromise agreement.
The two sides - including acting director-general of co-operative governance Elroy Africa and NTU president Jaap Kelder - met late last week and agreed to set up pilot municipalities in four provinces.
The pilot project towns will be Louis Trichardt in Limpopo, Barberton in Mpumalanga, Bethlehem in the Free State and Sannieshof in the North West.
Advisory committees consisting of all three levels of government, the ratepayers' organisations, township civic organisations, municipal managers and local mayors will be represented. These advisory bodies will look at service delivery problems in these areas.
Kelder said ratepayers would continue to pay their rates into separate bank accounts set up by the ratepayers' bodies in their respective towns. The money from the bank accounts would be used to pay for necessary services and other immediate requirements, be it fixing a pothole or repairing a sewerage pipe.
While Africa did not return calls for comment, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka's spokeswoman Vuyelwa Qinga-Vika said the minister's approval would be communicated with the NTU "within the next week".
Shiceka accused the white ratepayers of setting up a "parallel government" and threatened to use the full force of the law against them. He, however, did not attend the meeting with the NTU, leaving this to his department's senior officials.
Kelder, who was accompanied by Carin Visser, the chairwoman of the Sannieshof Ratepayers' Association and also the chairwoman of the North West branch of the NTU, said threats to cut off the supply of electricity to thousands of those boycotting rates in Brits and Phalaborwa had been prevented by the talks with the department.
While it could not be confirmed, Kelder said that according to the agreement with the department, ratepayers who had boycotted payments to the municipality would not be penalised for outstanding rates because they had paid them to the alternative bank accounts. That money would be used to implement corrective action in the municipalities concerned.
The advisory committees would, within two weeks, identify critical areas of service delivery backlogs. "The trust funds will be made available to address these problems," said Kelder.
Asked if the money would be channelled to the municipalities for this purpose, Kelder was emphatic that this would not happen.
"(The department) asked for that but the money will go directly to the contractors who put right what is wrong," Kelder said.
Qinga-Vika could not confirm if this was the case and whether the minister had agreed to this position.
The two sides - including acting director-general of co-operative governance Elroy Africa and NTU president Jaap Kelder - met late last week and agreed to set up pilot municipalities in four provinces.
The pilot project towns will be Louis Trichardt in Limpopo, Barberton in Mpumalanga, Bethlehem in the Free State and Sannieshof in the North West.
Advisory committees consisting of all three levels of government, the ratepayers' organisations, township civic organisations, municipal managers and local mayors will be represented. These advisory bodies will look at service delivery problems in these areas.
Kelder said ratepayers would continue to pay their rates into separate bank accounts set up by the ratepayers' bodies in their respective towns. The money from the bank accounts would be used to pay for necessary services and other immediate requirements, be it fixing a pothole or repairing a sewerage pipe.
While Africa did not return calls for comment, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka's spokeswoman Vuyelwa Qinga-Vika said the minister's approval would be communicated with the NTU "within the next week".
Shiceka accused the white ratepayers of setting up a "parallel government" and threatened to use the full force of the law against them. He, however, did not attend the meeting with the NTU, leaving this to his department's senior officials.
Kelder, who was accompanied by Carin Visser, the chairwoman of the Sannieshof Ratepayers' Association and also the chairwoman of the North West branch of the NTU, said threats to cut off the supply of electricity to thousands of those boycotting rates in Brits and Phalaborwa had been prevented by the talks with the department.
While it could not be confirmed, Kelder said that according to the agreement with the department, ratepayers who had boycotted payments to the municipality would not be penalised for outstanding rates because they had paid them to the alternative bank accounts. That money would be used to implement corrective action in the municipalities concerned.
The advisory committees would, within two weeks, identify critical areas of service delivery backlogs. "The trust funds will be made available to address these problems," said Kelder.
Asked if the money would be channelled to the municipalities for this purpose, Kelder was emphatic that this would not happen.
"(The department) asked for that but the money will go directly to the contractors who put right what is wrong," Kelder said.
Qinga-Vika could not confirm if this was the case and whether the minister had agreed to this position.
- Business Report
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