Billions in rates charged ‘illegally’

By Shaun Gillham

EASTERN Cape municipalities may face legal action after being accused of illegally  charging property owners an estimated R6-billion in rates over more than a decade. It has been claimed the municipalities had  not followed prescribed government procedures, thus acting unlawfully.
Representatives from a number of Eastern Cape ratepayers’ associations who met in Port Elizabeth this week, said they were investigating possible litigation against scores of municipalities across the province, which they accuse of gross mismanagement and corruption.
They also plan to form a provincial “mega ratepayers association” and are considering a  rates withholding campaign.
This emerged after a meeting in Nelson Mandela Bay where representatives of ratepayers’ associations from Nelson Mandela Bay, East London, St Francis Bay and Jeffreys Bay, among others, reached  consensus on their allegation that municipalities had been charging ratepayers’ rates illegally since 2005.
The claim is linked to a technicality which the ratepayer representatives claim means municipalities have illegally charged and taken more than R6-billion in rates over nearly 12 years. 
According to the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004, all municipalities are compelled to publish the rates they intend to charge in the provincial gazette every year, which, the association says,  not all have done.
However, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality spokesman Kupido Baron dismissed claims that the municipality had not gazetted rates, saying this had been done since 2005. “We also publish the rates in the local newspaper and have already paid for the 2012/2013 rates to be gazetted.”
National Taxpayers’ Union chairman Jaap Kelder, of  Kempton Park, said the meeting resolved that all Eastern Cape ratepayers’ associations would meet in Cradock on August 4, where the issue of legally challenging  municipalities around the rates issue would be decided  as well as whether support would be sought for a province-wide campaign to withhold rates. “We found that, according to legislation and the constitution, any bylaws that have not been promulgated are not valid,” Kelder said.
Nelson Mandela Bay Ratepayers’ Association chairman Kobus Gerber said ratepayers “would no longer be bullied”.
“Ratepayers are paying about R100-million annually in rates.”
He said proof that municipalities had acted illegally regarding rates payment would give ratepayers “massive bargaining power”.
Buffalo City Municipality spokesman Keith Ngesi did not respond to Weekend Post queries at the time of going to print.

Additional reporting by Barbara Hollands and Shaanaaz de Jager

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday July 14 2012. 

Slap in the face for local soccer talent

By Shaun Gillham

BAY Stars managing director and businessman Tony Lovegrove has slammed a move by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality – in particular Mayor Zonoxolo Wayile – to buy Premier Soccer League (PSL) team Maritzburg United as a slap in the face for local football development.
An angry Lovegrove said on Friday that politicians and officials “did not care about the great talent in their own back yard” and were demonstrating that they did not think locals were “good enough”.
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron confirmed the initiative, which insiders told Weekend Post will cost the metro R30-million in relocation costs alone.
“I can confirm that the municipality is in the advanced stages of negotiations with Maritzburg United Football Club. This is towards maintaining the sustainability of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,” Baron said.
According to a source close to the deal, Wayile instructed Nelson Mandela Bay Development Agency Pierre Voges to negotiate with Maritzburg United and that the deal had to be closed before May 18 or 19 due to a Safa deadline dictating the cut-off date by which clubs have to declare their home stadiums.
According to another source, the team might not even be permanently based in the region, but would simply be “rented for some PSL games”.
The new development comes as a massive blow to Bay Stars, which was created out of the former Bay Academy Football Club with extensive financial backing from local business and with the aim of representing the metro in the PSL within three years.
 Lovegrove believed a contract signing with Maritzburg was imminent.
He said Bay Stars was formed after Safa contacted local businessmen to assist in the former Bay Academy team. “We looked at the PSL model and we formed a team, which has full technical support, with the aim of getting it into the PSL in three years. We’ve done all the right things; put all the correct structures and support systems in place. We had an MOA [memorandum of agreement] with the mayor, who publicly supported the team and its aims, and we are on track to develop this team, which has great talent,” Lovegrove said.
Lovegrove questioned why tens of millions would potentially be spent on importing a franchise when they had battled to get R4-million worth of repairs done to the team’s home ground, the Wolfson Stadium.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday May 12, 2012.

Water shortage ‘crisis’ hits northern areas

By Shaanaaz de Jager

SEVERE water delivery problems in parts of Nelson Mandela Bay’s northern areas are wreaking havoc with residents’ daily lives and forcing many people to move out.
 Residents are frustrated and baffled because they say their accounts are up to date. They claim the municipality has not been forthcoming about the cause of what they have labelled a crisis.
However municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said water consumption had increased to a point where the existing reticulation was overextended.
He said residents had erected structures over the existing water mains, making it “difficult to detect and repair leaks”.
The affected areas in Schauderville include Roos Street, Gideon Road, Luyt Street, Searle Road, St Nicholas Crescent and Ferreira Street.
Residents said the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality secured the services of trucks to deliver water in January and February. But, they said, this was still not enough. Bertie Andrews, of Gideon Road, confirmed the problem persisted for nearly two years.
“Even though there is improvement with water flow from the taps, the problem still frustrates me,” he said. “When we ask what the problem is, we are not given a straight answer. There were times when we would not have water during the day and only late at night.” The erratic water service had also caused Andrews, who rents a house in Roos Street, sleepless nights as tenants were streaming out. “They say they won’t pay rent because there is no water.”
Another resident, Nigel St Clair, said it took him more than an hour to shower in the mornings as he waited for water to be channeled through the system.
 Baron said residents would only have been charged for water “consumed through their meters and not for the water delivered” and mains were being installed.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 14, 2012.

Water relief promised with extension to Nooitgedacht

By Yolandé Stander

WORK on the extension of the Nooitgedacht level water treatment works along the Sundays River is under way.
Massive water pipes are being installed next to the R335 or Addo Road past Motherwell. This extension is set to see an extra 70 megalitres of water being pumped into the Nelson Mandela Bay area every day by the end of March next year.
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said this was part of the municipality’s drought relief efforts. “We asked for R1.6-billion for drought relief efforts from national government. This year, we received R450-million from treasury and that is what we are using to implement phase one of the Nooitgedacht scheme,” Baron said.
He added the decision to prioritise the low- level scheme was because this project was the most viable.
“We do, however, have other projects on the cards for the future, including our planned desalination plant and boreholes.”
He said another R350-million should become available to complete phase one during the course of the next financial year.
The Nooitgedacht scheme is the extension of the Nooitgedacht water-treatment works, which treats Gariep Dam water which flows via the Orange-Fish River tunnel and a series of connected rivers to the Sundays River irrigation scheme.
From there it is piped, via the treatment works, to areas that include PE’s Bluewater Bay.
The first phase of the project involves the implementation of the “bare essentials” which will enable the municipality to treat the water to an acceptable standard and push it through the system.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 7, 2012.

Accommodation bookings down for Easter

By Shaanaaz de Jager and Barbara Hollands

A DROP in Eastern Cape accommodation establishment bookings points to this Easter being one of the quietest in years.
Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism reported that in January visitor numbers went up by 0.86% (5829 more beds) and in February by 0.34% (2056 more beds).
Brookes Hill Suites manager Tonya Gorham said their family apartments were fully booked, but smaller apartments which slept two people were only 60% booked.
“We still get bookings every day, although now they are rates driven. People want more for a lot less.
“In 2008 we would give people our rate and they would pay it – now the role is reversed. It is different market. People have other priorities, such as paying school fees.
“Usually for December people book five months in advance – last Christmas they booked a week in advance,” Gorham said.
Port Elizabeth and its surrounds have been bolstered by the news that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has finally appointed an events management company for the annual Splash Festival to be held over the four-day Easter weekend.
 Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said yesterday the service provider would be named at the launch of the festival at the Hobie Beach Yacht Club on Wednesday March 28. The festival programme would also be announced.
Weekend Post has reliably learnt that Go Big Events, which has previously managed the Splash, has been appointed. Go Big was also named the preferred bidder in media reports earlier this month.
As usual a full programme of entertainment, beach and watersports was expected. 

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday March 24, 2012.

Memorial service for three councillors on Friday

A MEMORIAL service for Nelson Mandela Bay councillors Mxolisi Gumenge, Phumeza Lose and Noncedo Ngqondi who were killed in a taxi accident on Sunday will take place tomorrow (January 20).

The service will take place at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Missionvale Campus from 10am to 3pm, according to municipal spokesman Kupido Baron.

Baron said the civic funeral for Lose (Ward 55) and Gumenge (Ward 26) would take place on Tuesday January 24, also at the Missionvale Campus, from 9am to 2pm. Ngqondi (Ward 15) would also receive a civic funeral, to be held from 9am to 1pm at the Nangoza Jebe Hall on Wednesday.

The three, who  represented the ANC in the Nelson Mandela Bay Council, were part of a group travelling back to Port Elizabeth after attending classes at the Nelson Mandela Law School at the Fort Hare University’s East London campus on Sunday. They were studying towards certificates in Local Government Law and Public Administration.

Bay suburbs must ‘urgently’ reduce electricity use

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has urged residents and businesses in the suburbs of Kragga Kamma, Westering, Sunridge Park and particularly Newton Park to urgently reduce their usage of electricity.

The Municipality made the call today as its Electricity and Energy sub-directorate is working on a faulty transformer at the Fifth Avenue Substation in Newton Park.

Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said businesses in the Newton Park area should especially reduce their usage of air conditioners to lessen the demand for electricity in this area.

“Workers are on site at the moment and we will try to keep interruptions to the minimum.”

Council meeting honours those killed in crash

DURING a special council meeting today (Tuesday) the Nelson Mandela Bay Council pledged their support to the families of three ANC ward councillors who died in a taxi accident on Sunday.

The three, along with 11 other Nelson Mandela Bay councillors, were travelling to Port Elizabeth from East London after attending lectures at the Fort Hare University campus when the accident took place.

The group spent most of last week at the university and were all first-year students in a Local Government Law and Publication Administration qualification, according to municipal spokesman Kupido Baron.

The councillors who died are Noncedo Ngqondi, Mxulisi Gumenge and Phumeza Lose. The 11 who escaped death were Vuyani Dyantyi,  Andile Gqabi, Mbongeni Bungane, Loyiso Stemele, Mzukisi Ncamani, Veliswa Ndidi, Nomakhazi Cobo, Thanduxolo Jacobs, Michael Tofile, Linda Mlomo and Jan Lindoor.

Baron said the absence of the three councillors was painfully brought home when their seats were replaced with their photographs and wreaths, which were later handed over to their families by Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and Deputy Mayor Nancy Sihlwayi.

Council Speaker Maria Hermans said the three councillors had served with diligence, dignity and honour, while  Wayile said: “Every year, on January 15, we must remember these gallant fighters”.

“Following the Special Council meeting, the political leadership of Council travelled to the accident scene 80km outside Port Elizabeth to lay wreaths and host a prayer session,” Baron said.  Funeral arrangements have not yet been finalised.

Rabies scare continues

THE  Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s Dog Control Unit has been inundated with phone calls from residents who want their pets vaccinated after a case of Rabies was positively identified in the Perseverance and Despatch areas.

Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron urged residents who do not live in Despatch and Perseverance not to panic as their animals are not threatened at this stage.

“However, if you are from any other area and would like to get your animal’s vaccinations up to date, you are welcome to make use of the service of a private veterinarian,” Baron said.

Hundreds of calls were received since the first call for vaccinations was issued by the municipality and as a result one of its inspectors had to be placed in the centre to help man the telephones.

Rabies was suspected after a meerkat acted out of character and bit a dog during a fight almost two weeks ago. After the meerkat was killed, the animal was tested at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute of the University of Pretoria and the dog was placed in isolation in an attempt to curb the disease from spreading.

Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain in warm-blooded animals and it is transmitted by animals most commonly by a bite from the carrier.

“After the Onderstepoort results came back positive last Friday, the Dog Control Unit worked feverishly to vaccinate as many cats and dogs as possible to contain the spread of the disease.

“Another effective precautionary measure is to wash a wound thoroughly with cold water and soap shortly after a bite.”

A mobile unit is currently operating in the Despatch area.

Residents from Despatch and Perseverance may call the municipality’s Dog Control Unit on (041) 506 1743 to find out where the mobile unit is stationed. However, no house calls can be attended to.

‘War on Hunger’ wards get mayoral visit

NELSON Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile will visit the five wards where the War on Hunger campaign has been rolled out since August.

The following venues and community halls will be visited from 10am to 1pm on Monday (October 10): Kuyga, Booysens Park, George Botha Indoor Sport Centre, Daku Hall and NU29, Motherwell.

The War on Hunger feeds impoverished and vulnerable people in the community and allocated for the procurement of food also goes back into the local economy, with Finro Cash & Carry using local suppliers and products for the programme.

Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron said the project made an “immediate difference for between 5000 and 6000 people daily”, including youth, children from child-headed households, the elderly and people with disabilities who mainly relied on social grants.