Durban — The uMngeni Municipality is owed more than R180 million in property rates, and a total of R240m, which includes all other debts to uMngeni.
Mayor Chris Pappas said that in order to recover the debt the municipality would sell its books in the new year, which means that those who owe the municipality money will then face the possibility of having their assets attached in order to recover these debts.
Pappas said the money generated would be used on roads and stormwater-related maintenance as only 44% of their budget was funding from property tax, which he said left a huge gap in the municipality’s ability to respond to massive demands as local government.
Pappas said this included its obligation to social, economic, infrastructural and environmental development.
Moreover, Pappas said the volume of rain had been hugely destructive on tar and asphalt roads and had added a massive backlog of road repairs.
“This has added to our already massive backlog on roads and stormwater-related repairs, which has been caused by years of under-budgeting on maintenance as well as roads that are generally poorly constructed,” said Pappas.
He said the severe weather had placed a big burden on the municipality in terms of disaster response.
“Roads have washed away, houses have collapsed and informal settlements are under water. All these require humanitarian and physical infrastructure responses,” he said.
He added that the effects of global warming and changing weather patterns were being felt, so the municipality would need to seriously rethink its priorities, budgets, and operations.
Pappas said it would continue to do its best in the fight for improved service delivery, the equitable distribution of resources, good financial management and the fulfilment of all its constitutional obligations to the residents of uMngeni.
Daily News