Tshwane rates clearance in chaos, claims DA

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane claimed on Monday that people cannot buy or sell houses anymore in the metropolitan area.

In a statement on Monday, DA Tshwane mayoral candidate, Randall Williams said: “The DA is dismayed to have learned that the African National Congress (ANC) unlawfully imposed the City of Tshwane administrators have lost control of the rates clearance process.”

Williams said the matter had led to the gradual collapse in the process of the issuing of rates clearance certificates.

“Estate agents and lawyers have been attempting to engage with the city to sort out the online process, but there has been no response from the administrators,” he said.

He said DA representatives in the city were receiving daily complaints about what appears to be “a long-lasting backlog due to the inability to ensure that the service continues effectively”.

“There is a growing list of properties in the city that cannot be legally sold because the property owners have not been able to source their rates clearance certificates from the city administration.

“This is momentously disruptive to individuals who are currently looking to buy or sell property as they have been trapped in an ineffective and unresponsive bureaucratic process,” he added.

The mayoral candidate further said it was clear the administrators had failed to prepare to carry on this vital aspect of city business amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The real estate sector and conveyances around the city are now unable to do their work because this basic administrative process is no longer working which is threatening their businesses and livelihoods.

“This is bound to cause immense delays in housing transfers and disrupt the lives of residents across the city. This debacle is added to the litany of failures by the ANC administrators since they were unlawfully imposed in the city,” he said.

Williams continued to say: “The collapse of rate clearance certificate processes can now be included alongside all the customer care centres which are still closed and the city planning and building control offices which are unresponsive.”

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