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Lifetime Bluff resident serving his third term in office as representative
of the area. Member of the Democratic Alliance.
This weeks Councillor comments
Duncan Du Bois
You can contact Councillor D Du Bois by e-mail @ dubois@axxess.co.za
Phone:467-0343 or mobile:083 291-4913
Municipal Manager - Dr Sutcliffe:  Tel 311-2130 ;
SutcliffeM@durban.gov.za
Report dumping  or unauthorised use of verges; Phone 311-7448

Metro All-Call / All hours Tel No.:  361-0000

Metro Police: Tel 402-0680

Brighton Beach SAPS:    Tel 451 8060 / 8059

Brighton Beach Community Policing Forum Chairman:  Carl Knauff : 082 449-6503

ROAD REPAIRS and SMASHED DRAINS - Toll free call: 080 13 13 013
Or   -   email:  eservices@dmws.durban.gov.za
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Bluff Ward 66
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ISSUES IN WARD 66  FOR THE
ABM IN THE SOUTH DURBAN
BASIN TO FLAG:
Learn more about issues in ward 66
Why the DA will not be supporting
the proposed rates policy

Guiding Principles- We maintain that any policy
should contain guiding principles, in the case of a
rates policy we believe that it is essential that equity,
affordability, cost efficiency and sustainability should
be stated as guiding principles. The inclusion of
these would ensure that these principles are
applied to all aspects of a policy.

Appeals- We are most concerned about the
situation regarding pensioners, the disabled and
others on fixed incomes who lodge appeals. The
owner is liable for the rates at the new value until
such time as the appeal is heard. It could take more
than a year for an appeal to actually be heard. This
could cause tremendous hardship for those
mentioned above who could well find themselves in
a situation where they cannot afford to pay in the
period between lodging and the actual appeal
hearing.

Provision for phasing in- We are extremely
disappointed to note that this suggestion has been
rejected. We maintain that this measure is
extremely important to protect those ratepayers who
suffer from a major shift in incidence. The
mechanism would create an option for council to
provide relief where such situations occur whether
they are in flatted areas, townships or suburbs. This
would be a fair approach as it would allow the
ratepayer some time to adjust cash flow to meet the
new rates payment. The DA cannot see any harm in
including this mechanism in the policy. And will be
moving, as an amendment, the following insertion:

“If, in the implementation of the new valuation roll,
the rates payable in respect of any property, after
any applicable rebates contemplated in this Policy
have been taken into account, exceed a percentage
as determined by Council, the Council may
consider a phasing of the increase in assessment
rates”

Liability of sectional title owners- Whilst we note
sect. 15(b) 3 of the sectional Title Act allows for the
approach suggested by council, it is our
submission that it is grossly unfair and flies in the
face of equitability and the “user pays” principle.
Under the current proposal those ratepayers who
have diligently paid their dues will be forced to pick
up the tab for those who have not. As a party we
cannot morally justify penalizing diligent ratepayers
in this way.

Selective information- It has become clear from
recent press reports and comments by ANC
Councillors that the valuation roll and other
information has been provided to the ANC and not
shared with other political parties on the council.
This is a cause for great concern. The DA must
place on record our dissatisfaction with the fact that
the valuation roll has not been provided as this
would have enabled a far better examination of the
effects of the policy decisions we are expected to
make.

#####
MARCH'08
BUDGET PROCESS IS FLAWED
2 March'08
' The process by which the Ethekwini Budget is
being compiled is flawed and undemocratic. Ward
councillor input is being ignored and relegated in
favour of what appears to be a socialist welfare
agenda driven by bureaucrats,' says
Bluff DA ward councillor Duncan Du Bois.

' This was clearly demonstrated at the IDP
workshop I attended on Sunday March 2. I was
given a list of priorities for my ward (No. 66)
and told that all I could  change was the order. The
list bears absolutely no relation to the priorities of
Bluff residents who comprise 80%
of ward 66. For the record the listed so-called
priorities are: 1) Safety and security; 2) improved
health; 3) skills development; 4) sustainable
income: 5) HIV/Aids. My rejection of this list was
recorded.'

' As the elected representative of this ward I have to
point out that I had no input in the compilation of
that list. Besides, four of the items are not
even municipal functions. The list of priority items
for ward 66 that I forwarded to the City Treasurer in
December has been totally ignored.
That list included the application of the town
planning scheme to Clairwood, a bridge over
SouthCoast Rd at the Blamey Rd intersection,
robots at the Brighton / Grays Inn, Bideford / Tara
intersections as well as Umbilo and Edwin
Swales Dve.'

' It was also pointed out that on March 15 at the Big
Mama meeting, the public consultation process
will be finalised. The fine tuning will be
left to the Metro Executive. This proves that lip
service is paid to meaningful community
participation. Worse still is that the mandates ward
councillors received are being ignored. Product is
not being delivered because the process is being
manipulated. Transparency and accountability
have become casualties along the way,'  said Cllr
Du Bois.
###########
Draft Budget and Rates Randage
16 March 2008

The DA has noted the tabling of the draft budget for
the eThekwini municipality, like all budgets there are
positive and negative aspects. Obviously we now
await the detailed line item budget which will enable
us to interrogate the budget more thoroughly. Some
of the positives arising from the draft are:

1. The 200 new metro Police officers which will be
trained-whilst this allocation is still insufficient to
meet the challenge posed by crime and bylaw
infringements across the city, it is a step in the right
direction.

2. The allocation of R80 Million Rands for critical
vacancies- the DA will be pushing to ensure that
those vacancies which are closely related to actual
service delivery are filled first. The organisation is
already top heavy with a high proportion of salaries
being expended on executives, senior managers
and heads rather than those who carry out the actual
work.

3. The rebates granted to both residential property
(R120 000) and the rebates granted to pensioners,
medically boarded persons, child headed
households and grantees (400 000).

The items which are of great concern are:

1. The rate randage- the city has released a draft
randage of 0.009c/R, this is almost double the draft
randage of Johannesburg and coupled with the
hyper-inflationary 9.9% water increase and 15%
electricity increase will cause a great deal of
ratepayers across the city severe hardship. the DA
notes with concern that every year the rates go up
and yet the services on basic municipal functions
such as streetsweeping, parks, general
maintenance and traffic lights go down. Residents
are already feeling the pinch of massive petrol price
increases, increases in the interest rate and food
price increases. The rates increases are only going
to add to the burdens which they are experiencing.

2. The 32 million rand hostel deficit- when the
council passed the resolution to take 4 additional
hostels onto the books the DA voted against it and
warned of the huge deficit which would result. This
is essentially a provincial government function, yet
the funding now has to result in a rates increase.

3. The water loss account- the DA notes that despite
repeated assurances by the ANC that the problem
would be dealt with it has increased. 35% of all
water bulk purchased by the council is unaccounted
for. the ANC's unwillingness to get tough on those
who steal water has meant that those who do pay
are once again penalised.

The DA will be going through the budget extremely
carefully and looking for areas where cost savings
can be made. We are convinced that the budget
conceals a lot of political padding and "nice to
haves". We are confident that by eliminating these
we can bring the randage down to alleviate the
burden on residents.

DA repeats call for objection period to
be extended.

The Democratic Alliance on the eThekwini council is
repeating its call for the objection period to the
valuation roll to be extended. There are extremely
valid reasons for this call as a number of residents
across the city have still not yet received their section
49 notices notifying them officially of their value, this
particularly seems to be the case in sectional title
units. The fact that many residents were unable to
access the website due to several crashes has only
aggravated this. Not all residents have acess to the
internet and the form itself is also complex and
requires information, such as recent sales data,
which could take weeks for a resident to obtain.

It is also worth noting that the period for objections in
the two other major metropolitan areas,
Johannesburg and Cape Town, was over 90 days
with Cape Town still accepting objection forms. The
shock which has greeted a large number of
residents in terms of skewed property valuations,
coupled with the massive rates randage which is
double that of Johannesburg (0.005c/R) and Cape
Town (0.00459 c/R) is going to mean that a number
of objections will be coming in. It is the city's duty in
terms of the Municipal Property Rates Act to ensure
that residents are given adequate time to lodge such
objections.

Issued by: Councillor John Steenhuisen, DA
eThekwini Caucus leader- 083 6573864
##############
THE RATES FIASCO
17 March 2008

Just as the process and approach to the
street-renaming exercise was deeply flawed, so too
is the way in which the ANC-controlled Ethekwini
municipality has gone about determining property
rates.

The numerous anomalies and inconsistencies are
the result of the very poor manner in which  the
harvesting of property information was carried out.  
32 valuers several of whom are retired or out of
practice conducted the valuation survey. For a metro
of Durban's size they were simply not up to the job.
As a result only 26% of assessed properties were
actually physically accessed. No wonder there are
such varied discrepancies in the ratings property
owners have received.

Given this unfolding fiasco, it is logical  that the
deadline for lodging objections should be extended
as has been the case in Cape Town, but this has
been declined by Dr Sutcliffe.

The DA is also outraged by the premature releasing
of the rate randage. Given the flood of objections, it
amounts to poor accounting to proceed with a
budget based on property rates that are being
widely challenged. It would have been more
sensible to settle the objections first and to
postpone the application of the new rating system
until 2009.

It is also glaringly obvious from the figures released
in Sutcliffe's own Metro newsheet that his statement
about a rates rise of around 10% is devious
nonsense. The average increase on the Bluff is
given at 20% whilst Yellowwood Park residents are
hit by 35%. Gilletts and Kingsburgh have been
slammed with 86% and 89% respectively. This is
utter madness.

Yet ANC- supporting areas have been awarded
either nominal rates increases or decreases such
as 44% in Umlazi.

Clearly a socialist agenda is openly at work in
which massive cross-subsidisation is intended.

As things stand, many are in danger of being rated
out of their homes and those who are expected to
pay these huge increases cannot expect to be
compensated by an improvement in services.
It is a tragic and outrageous situation that
threatens Durban with ruin.

At a time of downturn in the economy, prudence
dictates that continued expansion of Durban's
budget is not sustainable. Since July 2003 it has
doubled in size from R9,7 billion to R20 billion  in
2008. Yet the rates base has grown by little more
than one percent per annum.

#################
RATEPAYERS URGED TO ATTEND
BUDGET HEARINGS
6 April 2008

Ratepayers in the SUN circulation area are
encouraged to attend Council-sponsored hearings
this weekend. A hearing affecting the Bluff,
Woodlands, Montclair and Yellowwood Park will be
held at 9am on Sunday April 13 at the Ningizimu
School in Kenyon Howden Rd Montclair.

A hearing concerning ward 67 and ward 68 which
takes in Austerville, Merewent, Jacobs and
Treasure Beach areas will take place  at 9am on
Saturday, April 12 at the Ezimbokodweni
Community Hall. For more details about this
hearing, interested parties are urged to contact
Councillor Aubrey Snyman on 082 700-7081.

' The DA urges ratepayers to attend these hearings
and to demand detailed accounts as to how their
rates are going to be spent in the areas in which
they live,' says Bluff ward councillor Duncan Du
Bois. ' Never before has the city's Budget been so
large, yet the proposals  promise very little by way of
improvement to basic maintenance and services
which appear to deteriorate from one year to the
next. It's time to stop the rates rip-off and to insist on
value for money in the areas in which we live,' he
said.

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