Unpaid rates: Chaos at KZN licensing centres remains unresolved

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has appealed to eThekwini Municipality to reinstate the water and electricity supply to government offices while the state tries to find the money to pay its bills.

In an unprecedented move last week, the municipality shut down the electricity and water supply to most government buildings over unpaid rates bills. It has emerged that while the affected departments have paid their utility bills, their services were disconnected because they owe rates - the responsibility for payment of these lies with Public Works. The most affected departments are Transport and Education.

In an interview on Friday, Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer appealed for leniency and called on the City to rethink its position 'for the sake of its own citizens who are most affected by the action'. Meyer said he had reached out to Mayor Cyril Xaba and was awaiting a response from him to meet and discuss the terms of payment.

He said his intervention was informed by the decision to switch off services.

“We acknowledge the historical debt of R500 million Public Works owes eThekwini for rates but we appeal for leniency as it will not be possible to settle the amount at once. This is a historical debt which I inherited as a new MEC. We are willing to pay so we appeal to the City leadership to reinstate services while we are trying to find a solution,” said Meyer.

The City’s Water and Sanitation committee chair councillor Mdu Nkosi said the City needs money to deliver services to people. He accused the government of collapsing municipalities yet criticisng them for failing to deliver on services.

“Municipalities particularly eThekwini have been heavily criticised for failing to deliver basic services like water. The City has been attacked for poor maintenance of infrastructure yet our big brothers (national and provincial government) are not paying us in order to deliver these services,” said Nkosi.

KZN Public Works and Infrastructure is a custodian of 10,067 government properties, many of these house government departments. These buildings are located across 54 municipalities in the province. The annual bill for rates is R1,8 billion, however, it receives R900 million from the budget allocation. The debt dates back to 2005.

The City’s action has paralysed key services in Transport vehicle licensing centres which have been closed since last week. The closures came while many motorists were scrambling to convert their vehicle registration numbers to the new licence plates.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za