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Taxpayers threaten to again withhold taxes

Date: 26 September 2014 By: Linda van der Westhuizen

The Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association has again extended an ultimatum to the Makhado Municipality in which it threatens to withhold taxes.

This time round it would be on the grounds of the “non-existence” of the valuation roll.

The Gauteng High Court ruled that the awarding of the tender for the compilation of the 2014 to 2018 valuation roll of the Makhado Municipality was unlawful. No court has yet ruled that the new valuation roll is not enforceable, but it could follow logically that unlawful processes could not result in a legal valuation roll. The first withholding action of the SRPA started in August 2008 when the SRPA declared a dispute with the municipality, as a result of poor and non-existent service delivery. They withheld rates until their members gave them a mandate to pay over the rates at a meeting on 29 July last year. The amount that the ratepayers withheld had accumulated to approximately R5 million. It was a mammoth task to reconcile all the accounts and last month the last outstanding R600 000 was paid over to the municipality. “Our executive committee, with the necessary professional advice, is considering withholding taxes to the municipality as the opinion that was supplied to us was that no valuation roll exists at this time and that no taxes are thus payable,” the SRPA wrote in their letter dated 22 September. They wanted answers from the municipality on the valuation roll and many other unanswered matters and asked for answers no later than 10 October. The letter was delivered by hand.

The SRPA explained that there is a difference in their position now, compared to their previous withholding action. “We as association will thus move to our earlier position where taxes were withheld from the municipality, but since no valuation roll exists, unlike the first situation, taxes will never be payable to the municipality,” read their letter.

In their first withholding action, the decision of the SRPA to pay the monies over was influenced by the judgement of the Rademan-Moqhaka case and other relevant court cases, where it was stated that a municipality may consolidate different items on the municipal account and the customer could not specify that payment is for a certain item. That would imply that the municipality could use the payment that the customer meant for electricity for property rates and other rates.

In 2012, the municipality did indeed cut the power supply of SRPA members, but they obtained an interim court order in the case of Makhado Municipality vs Enslin and du Plessis in February 2012 to enforce the reconnection of the electricity. The municipality subsequently promulgated their Credit Control Policy in June 2012. The parties eventually settled and the municipality was ordered to pay the costs of the SRPA to the amount of R100 000. The costs were calculated to cover the time before the municipality had their policy in place. Gilfillan said this week that,  should they come to the point of a second withholding action and the electrical supply be disconnected, they will again approach the courts.

 
 
 

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Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

 
 

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