Cllr Jacqui Uys – DA Tshwane Spokesperson on Finance
By Cllr Jacqui Uys,
DA Tshwane Spokesperson on Finance_
On Thursday, 24 May, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane submitted a motion that would have ensured that all Tshwane residents pay rates and taxes.
The ANC government chose not to deal with the motion in council, forfeiting the opportunity to treat all Tshwane residents fairly.
The City of Tshwane has 19 illegally established developments, like Kleinfontein, Leeufontein, and Moshate Gardens where approximately 19 500 individual erven are not charged rates and taxes.
The process of legalizing the zoning of these properties is a long road, during which the city has two choices; 1) forfeit rates and taxes from these properties, or 2) charging punitive rates. Seemingly, the city has chosen to forfeit rates on some of these developments and to charge punitive rates on others.
The DA’s motion offered a third option, one that would have been fair to both the residents of Tshwane who are already paying their rates and taxes, as well as the residents who occupy these 19500 erven.
Many of whom were hoodwinked by developers when purchasing their properties and were unaware of the accompanied illegalities.
The DA’s motion proposed that the city utilize the opportunity presented by the current review of the city’s valuation roll to put a value to each of the erven.
The act allows the municipality to put a value to a property even in the absence of correct zoning rights and this approach would have allowed these 19500 properties to fairly and equally contribute to the city’s rates and taxes.
By not dealing with this motion correctly the ANC forfeited the opportunity to fair payment of rates and taxes by all Tshwane residents.
The city’s proposed amended valuation roll is currently open for objections and the DA urges residents to use this opportunity to review their new municipal property value and object before 2 May 2025.