Residents worry about cost of living in Hoedies

A resident, Gary Whitecross, posted his concerns on the increase in rates and taxes on the Hoedspruit Town Facebook page. “I seriously am not an anarchist but, on our estate, we get no sewage, road maintenance, water or refuse from the council …” He goes on to state that the water MLM provides to the town is not potable, the refuse is not collected with residents and the Town Watch cleaning the town during cleanup days.

He further states the roads are deteriorating, and that traffic enforcement does not exist. He also alludes to the alleged inefficient staff at MLM. Lizmari Wolmarans of Hoedspruit Chamber/Sakekamer said the issue of the high valuation and other issues were discussed during a community meeting on July 17. “The newly proposed rates were sent to the community, and we had until May 24 to submit our objections, which the Hoedspruit Concerned Community Group did,” Wolmarans said.

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“During the community meeting, Amos Matjiya, director of Spatial Planning, confirmed that the objection to any increases was rejected by CoGHSTA because, according to them, it borders on discrimination and the focus should be on properties and not individuals.” She said MLM decided not to increase rates for residential and agricultural properties, but because the formula makes use of market values, residents may experience an increase.

“Hoedspruit’s property boom has caused property prices to soar which means mid-to-low-income families are having a hard time finding homes or rental units that are affordable,” she said. She said that the popularity of estates has also attracted a lot of foreign investors who are willing to pay premium prices for their little part of bushveld heaven. “This has increased property rates immensely making it hard for the residents who work and live in Hoedspruit to keep up with the increases.”

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Living costs are becoming a huge challenge for these mid-to-low-income families. “Pensioners are also in a difficult position as they are not afforded the same benefits or rebate structures that some other towns or cities have,” added Wolmarans. She said that the municipality has vowed to improve and started with road markings last weekend. “There is also a streetlight tender in progress to fix many of the faulty lights.”

The biggest concern remains the water and sewage infrastructure.” Matjiya said that the market value is out of their control and pensioner rebates can only be applied every five years and not every year. He also referred to illegal signage in town and said MLM will be removing all illegal signs before the end of August. On the water and sewage issue, Lesley Muroa, technical director, said that Maruleng is currently served by the Department of Defence (DOD) and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).

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“The current facility concerning the town size is not coping and is over capacity. “DOD and DPWI have decided to separate, and DOD is in talks for a new contract to manage everything until 2050. Parties are currently also busy with plans to develop or upgrade the current infrastructure for water and sewage treatment,” Muroa said. “In the short-term, MLM will help them do maintenance, especially over the next three months,” he added.