Durban - The city council is holding meetings at different venues around the city to discuss the increases with the public. Last Tuesday, a meeting held in the Durban Botanic Gardens started four hours late because too few people attended. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9am which, for most residents, was a working day.
Berea ward councillor Christopher Pappas said it was disturbing that the city held hearings in the week when most ratepayers were working.
“They just want to tick the box as a required procedure for the budget. There is no input the city wants to get from the public. People have expressed their views on the tariff increases through a petition. The city should have planned better if it was taking the residents’ views seriously,” he said.
Those who did attend were upset that they were unable to voice their concerns. Instead, junior municipal officers handed out pamphlets explaining the budget. They did not take any questions. The city council is budgeting to spent R50.8billion in the next financial year. That is about R5bn more than the current budget.
The increased funds will come from a 15% increase in electricity, 9.9% in sanitation and refuse, 15% for water and 6.9% for property rates.
Mohammed Kara of Overport said in the past few months the area experienced water outages caused by burst pipes. These were the result of ageing infrastructure.
“We find it difficult to come to terms with the proposed tariffs as the city has failed dismally to provide simple services. We feel that we have been ripped off,” he said.
Thiru Pillay of Clare Estate said he believed the city was not doing enough to prevent incidents such as illegal land invasions.
“There isn’t adequate or visible policing or a satellite police station in Clare Estate or Reservoir Hills to bring change. We need councillors to work with the ratepayers’ associations and deliver during their term and not just when there is a crisis,” said Pillay.
In the past two years, the city’s final budget was not changed from the draft despite public input. Krish Kumar, the city council’s chief executive officer, said it was impractical to have all the hearings on weekends.
He said all the input would be taken into consideration, but it was unlikely tariffs would be changed.
“We agree they are above inflation, but this is the best the municipality could have done. We have noted their concerns regarding service delivery issues. We will take all their input to the executive committee which will make amendments to the budget and ensure all their complaints are prioritised,” said Kumar.