Stuart Hess
THE crackdown on rate defaulters which triggered riots earlier this month in Johannesburg’s coloured suburbs is to restart next week.
The decision – announced by the Southern Metropolitan Substructure (SMSS) – coincided with the launch of a commission of inquiry into the riots in Eldorado Park, Westbury and Reiger Park, which left four dead.
The council, whose vast area of responsibility includes Soweto and part of Johannesburg’s central business district, is owed R343-million by residents and R305- million by businesses.
SMSS chairman Prema Naidoo says services will be cut from March 1, following the council’s failure to persuade non-payers to pay up.
“There is a feeling that if you’re not paying why should I pay?” Naidoo adds.
More than 370 000 residents are in arrears, he says. In Soweto, for example, just 18% of residents are paying their rates.
Among the options the council is considering is reducing water flow to non- payers – Naidoo says it is unconstitutional to totally cut off water supplies. Soweto residents pay their electricity bills directly to Eskom. A representative from Eskom says payment levels range from 65% to 80%, depending on the area – a vast improvement on levels just three years ago.
The council’s renewed tough stance comes in the same week Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale opened a commission of inquiry into the rioting. The troubles were partly sparked by coloured residents’ refusal to pay higher levels of rates than residents in Soweto.
The South West Joint Civics Association, which spearheaded residents’ opposition, refused to comment on the council’s cut-off warning.
Naidoo says the council is likely to try to assist pensioners and unemployed people who were unable to pay.
The council is also expected to focus much of its attention on business non-payers, given the reception expected from Soweto residents to mass cut-offs. The council has already issued 2677 summonses to businesses which are in arrears, and nearly a hundred properties in the CBD have been attached.
Earlier this month the SMSS cut off electricity to the offices of the Gauteng’s local government department. The R600 000 it owed was paid the following day