VISITORS to Sodwana Bay were greeted with a mountain of garbage in the run-up to last week’s long weekend.
While uMhlabuyalingana Local Municipality does remove refuse from Sodwana Bay twice a week despite a rates structure that is yet to be fully implemented, one resident says the residents of the town and surrounding areas continue to dump garbage on the side of the only road into town.
Although Sodwana Bay residents live on Ingonyama Trust land, and enter into lease agreements with the local traditional authority, rates and taxes are still applicable.
Residents are currently in discussions with uMhlabuyalingana Municipality which has ordered that 2% of each property’s valuation be paid as rates, a figure far higher than other municipalities in the province.
There is confusion over the payment of rates as some residents have been ordered to pay arrears dating back five years, but others to only July last year.
‘We are happy to pay rates, but would like a compromise as we don’t think it’s fair to charge some residents arrears going back five years and others less than a year,’ said the resident.
In the meantime, rates are not paid and the garbage piles up as residents await an agreeable rates structure and associated service delivery.
