Ratepayers meet with eThekwini mayor
Westville Ratepayers’ Association members threaten protest action in a meeting with the mayor.
ETHEKWINI mayor Mxolisi Kaunda called a meeting with the Westville Ratepayers’ Association (WRA) on Thursday, August 10. The meeting comes after the WRA’s boycott to pay rates following the tariff increase that was initiated in July. The ratepayers initially objected to the increase when it was announced in April, saying procedure was not followed as they were not engaged in the making of the decision.
In July, when the increase kicked in, the WRA, along with other ratepayers in Durban, announced their boycott. This was after a series of letters written to the mayor demanding a meeting with him.
Also read: Political parties show support for ratepayers
In the meeting on Thursday, which was held at the Westville Civic Centre, the ratepayers were visibly unhappy with the mayor’s address as seen by them interrupting him by them demanding that he cut to the chase of the meeting’s agenda.
In his address, Kaunda highlighted that it is illegal for ratepayers to withhold their rates as it will lead to their accounts being in arrears. Shortly before he was interrupted, the mayor was highlighting the work the City had done after the 2022 floods which had saved businesses like Toyota and SAB from evacuating the city/country as they had threatened.
The chairperson of the WRA, Asad Gaffar, spoke after the mayor’s address, stating their grievances which were listed in the memorandum, which was later signed by Kaunda. In the memorandum, the mayor was given 14 days by the ratepayers to respond with an action plan or else they would further their boycott to protest action.
The meeting was then adjourned by the mayor’s office which said they would respond to the memorandum in writing. The ratepayers objected to this, saying they were not done stating their grievances and that the agenda of the meeting had not been fulfilled yet. They subsequently walked out of the hall.
Also read: Ratepayers boycott paying rates after tariff increase
The chairperson of WRA, Gaffar, said it seems as if the City is not serious about making any commitment.
“Our demands are clear in terms of what we want, and their behaviour and response to adjourn the meeting is unacceptable – he has to listen to us. We were not done giving our responses, and how is it that they closed the meeting? We will not change our position – they need to prepare for what’s coming.”
Kaunda acknowledged the criticism coming from the ratepayers.
“It is noted how the ratepayers said they were not happy with how the meeting was conducted. We are coming back within 14 days, but the main idea is to persuade them to work together as a collective to rebuild this city. We saw nothing wrong here because they were engaging us,” he said.
The mayor is set to meet with the ratepayers soon.
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