Durban - Comments made by eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda regarding action that is being taken against Westville residents who are part of the rates boycott has drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties in the City.
The DA said the comments were reckless and ActionSA said the mayor was out of line with his remarks.
The City has cut services to some of the residents who are part of the boycott, according to court papers filed by the Westville Ratepayers Association.
In an audio clip that surfaced last week, Kaunda said the City has a right to enforce credit control policies on those that are not paying.
“We now have a list of people that withhold their rates, in court (papers) they gave us that list. We know exactly our first targets now, that is where we are going to cut first. Those who are not paying us, we must cut them because it is unlawful to withhold rates, the Constitution gives us the right to charge rates.”
Kaunda said the City was committed to address the challenges raised, and added that they would be meeting with all the ratepayers to tell them “the good stories about their city”. He said the ratepayers’ organisations in other areas were in support of the city.
“Even in Westville, do not think that everyone who resides in Westville has decided to withhold their rates, it’s just two or three streets. And we will be dealing with the streets, if they do not pay us, we will cut them,” he said.
Councillor Alan Beesley said: “As ActionSA, we believe the mayor is totally out of line and is being vindictive by specifically targeting those residents that are withholding their rates as named in the court papers.
“The mayor's focus should rather be on the government departments and parastatals that owe the municipality in excess of R1 billion in overdue accounts. The voice note once again highlights that the mayor continues to handle this matter extremely poorly.”
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said the utterances by the mayor were “reckless and irresponsible”.
“It shows that the mayor is not meeting these ratepayers’ associations in good faith, he is just ticking the box. Instead of threatening ratepayers, he should be objectively listening and engaging them, because we all know that there is really no good story to tell. We are where we are because of this very same arrogance that the mayor is displaying.”