Ratepayers’ Association calls local authority to account for accounts

The Queenstown Ratepayers' Association is set to submit a dispute letter through its attorneys to the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) querying incorrect municipal accounts and the lack thereof in most instances.

The association held a meeting with its members and the community to discuss issues related to municipal accounts last Thursday.

The general feeling at the meeting was that most people and businesses did not receive their accounts and those who did, indicated the information reflected on the accounts was, for the most part, “thumb sucked”.

Founder of the association Tokkie Deysel said the issue with accounts at the local authority stemmed from way back before the amalgamation of the three local municipalities that formed EMLM.

Deysel said the basis on which they were submitting the dispute letter was the Municipal Systems Act document, which stated how local authorities were to handle matters related to credit control and debt collection.

“The municipality has failed to abide by the local government legislation on so many occasions. One of the key points indicated on the document is that the municipality must establish mechanisms for users of services and ratepayers to give feedback to the municipality regarding quality of services and the performance of the service provider. We do not have such mechanisms because this problem has been there for years. We have complained about it and nothing has been done yet.”

Deysel said the accounts did not indicate how the figures were calculated, which was important because people wanted value for money.

“A particular area would not have power for a certain number of days in a month and yet the amount to be paid by the customer would be so high, as though power had been there throughout. We need to know how they make their calculations so that it is easy for the customers to pay for the service they were provided.”

He said the association strongly advocated for its members to always pay for rates, but that was difficult if they did not know how much they owed.

“Other people in towns like Molteno and Sterkstroom, to name a few, have to come to Komani to make payments which is a big problem because not everyone has money to travel. The law clearly states that there should be accessible pay points in each area.”

The Municipal Systems Act, chapter 9 subsection 95 (d) and (e), reads, “Where the consumption of services has to be measured, take reasonable steps to ensure the consumption by individual users of services is measured through accurate and verifiable metering systems. Ensure that persons liable for payments receive regular and accurate accounts that indicate the basis for calculating the amount due.”

Deysel said the letter would also highlight issues of property valuations where objections made in previous valuations had not been addressed.