The Democratic Alliance (DA) has requested MEC of COGHSTA, Bentley Vass, to help resolve Phokwane municipality’s decade long rates stalemate that continues to be extremely disadvantageous to farmers and the municipality alike.
Since 2013, Phokwane municipality failed to rectify inflated property valuations and erroneous municipal accounts in relation to 36 000 hectares of farmland and 362 farmers in the area. Farmers are desperate to settle the outstanding debt, ranging from between R15 million to R90 million, but refuse to pay until the accounts are rectified.
In November last year, the Phokwane Executive Mayor conceded to the National Portfolio Committee on COGTA that there have been inaccuracies in the municipality’s billing system since 2013. He also claimed that the municipality’s revenue manager was working on resolving the issue. To date the situation remains unchanged.
Phokwane is now demanding payment from farmers. This is despite multiple attempts by the DA to also get the accounts corrected and finalized, through liaison with a string of former managers. Efforts have been particularly hampered by instability in the institution, which has gone through five Municipal Managers and three Chief Financial Officers in the last four years.
The Union is the biggest contributor in terms of Phokwane’s property rates. Effectively, Phokwane’s debt collection remains below the accepted norm, having a ripple effect on the municipality’s ability to repay its long list of creditors. After ten years of accounts dysfunction, Phokwane is also rated as one of the most dysfunctional municipalities in the country.
Unresolved accounts are not only bankrupting Phokwane but also delaying the transfer of properties onto the names of current property owners. The situation must not be allowed to fester and COGHSTA must step in to help rectify the accounts.
We hope that communication between Coghsta spokesperson, Gizella Opperman and MEC Vass’s office last week, will finally be the beginning of the end of Phokwane’s accounts catastrophe. To place additional pressure on the municipality and COGHSTA, Opperman has sent an update to the national COGTA parliamentary committee.