Unpaid bills owed by those living in Ingonyama Trust areas could be written off by the eThekwini Municipality.
|||Durban - Millions in unpaid rates and services owed by people living in Ingonyama Trust areas could be written off by the eThekwini Municipality.
A report tabled during a human settlements and infrastructure committee meeting this week dealt with debt owed by individual property owners arising out of their unpaid rates.
The committee heard that a letter was sent to all ratepayers in Ingonyama Trust areas urging them to make arrangements to pay, but only 41 percent of residents who owned properties valued above R120 000 paid.
The total owed by residents that did not pay was R257 million.
“The debt is substantial, and the situation cannot continue unabated, especially since other property owners pay for all municipal services,” the report said.
The recommendations included that council write off debt up to 2008/09, and that individual ratepayers in the Ingonyama Trust area be given a final notice of 30 days to make arrangements to pay after the write-off was done.
Committee chairman Nigel Gumede said the write-off would have huge implications for the council, and other ratepayers would also want their debt to be written-off. “These people must pay,” he said.
DA councillor Heinz de Boer said writing off debt would set a precedent.
“It is not a good way to resolve this issue of non-payment by writing off people’s debt,” he said.
The recommendations were approved by the committee in principle, and the issue of the debt write-off would be discussed further by all the parties during their caucus meeting.
The Ingonyama Trust incorporates three million hectares or 32 percent of all land in the province.
Every year, the municipality writes off large amounts owed by the trust.
The municipality took the issue to court seeking clarity on whether, under the old Rating of State Property Act, the trust was considered a state institution and thus exempt from rates.
King Goodwill Zwelithini is the chairman of the trust, which owns traditional land and the major townships of Umlazi, KwaMashu and Inanda.
It has been previously reported that the trust has not paid any rates since 1998, and that it owed the municipality R278.3 million.
There are two types of properties on trust land: those which are owned by the trust itself, and those on which there are properties “owned” by private individuals through deeds of grant or title deeds.
gugu.mbonambi@inl.co.za
The Mercury