Durban - THE tariffs boycott movement against the eThekwini Municipality is gaining momentum, with some residents of Durban North being the latest to join.
On Tuesday night, leaders of the Westville Ratepayers’ Association (WRA) met with residents of Durban North at Northwood High School to brief them on their action against the city.
The boycott plan was first launched by the WRA.
“The residents of Durban North have seen what we have been doing, calling for a boycott, and they invited us to come and make a presentation to them. There were more than 500 people who attended the meeting,” said Asad Gaffar, chairperson of the WRA.
‘The Mercury’ reported recently that the WRA had declared a dispute with the city over the tariff increases, which came into effect on July 1, and resolved not to pay rates as of the end of this month.
It said the money would be paid into and held in a trust account until the dispute with the city was resolved.
Several other ratepayer groups said last week they would join the action by the WRA by paying into a trust and not to the city. Gaffar said by the end of the meeting on Tuesday, the residents who were present had declared that they were joining the action.
“They want to show support for what we are doing. They are 100% with us,” he said.
The WRA chairperson said over the past few days, they had received calls of support from more than 20 ratepayers’ organisations.
“I have received calls from the Chatsworth area and the Phoenix area. I could soon be getting calls from uMlazi,” he said.
“Some people are calling this a war, we are at war with the city. We are not just crying about rates and electricity, but that the city is falling apart. I had a conversation with one person aware of the state of uMlazi where he said refuse was not even being collected any more, but the city is taking money from us claiming that it was going to use it to deliver services to the less privileged areas, but with uMlazi, that does not seem to be the case,” said Gaffar.
He said they had resolved to face off with the city. “We have said to the city it must come to the negotiation table. We have solutions that we could present. There are some ratepayers who are fearful that their lights will be cut and we have said we are way past that. This is a revolution and in the revolution we have to make sacrifices.
“The question for the municipality is: at the end of this month, if we are not going to pay, how will the city pay its staff? They will be the ones who receive the backlash,” he said.
DA councillor Shontel De Boer, who was present at the meeting, said it had been well attended with residents not just from Durban North but also from Hillcrest, Morningside, Glenwood, uMhlanga, La Lucia and Somerset Park.
Opposition parties described the complaints by ratepayers as “legitimate”, adding that the action would be damaging to the city’s image.
DA exco member Thabani Mthethwa said: “The DA sympathises with ratepayers and understands their frustrations considering chronic lack of service delivery in eThekwini. It is important for individual residents to seek proper legal guidance and advice on what steps to take in this regard.”
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said they did not support the budget as they felt the tariffs were too high, adding that the recent decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to reduce the electricity increase proved this.
“This is a lesson to be learnt by the municipality that you can’t thumb-suck tariffs to the point where people are so displeased,” Nkosi said.
ActionSA councillor Alan Beesley said the party would call on the mayor and his leadership to meet with the ratepayers’ associations leading the rates boycott, and to address their concerns.
Head of communication in eThekwini Municipality Lindiwe Khuzwayo said the issue was now a legal matter and therefore the municipality could not comment.