Participants in a rates boycott in Cape Town have had their water supplies cut and outstanding rates deducted from prepaid electricity purchases, IOL reports.
The response has been described by the co-ordinator of the Concerned Residents of Atlantic Seaboard group, Paul Jacobson, as ‘ruthless and insensitive’.
But the city’s chief financial officer Kevin Jacoby said there was no legal basis for withholding rates, and the local ward councillor has pointed out that complaints by ratepayers are misdirected, as they concern provincial or national functions.
Reportedly, only 28 residents notified the City that they had joined the boycott. The Concerned Residents of Atlantic Seaboard group embarked on the partial rates boycott by withholding 50% of their property rates payments in August. They highlighted their discontent over crime, homelessness and vagrancy.
However, Atlantic seaboard ward councillor Nicola Jowell told Cape Talk that while City officials had met the residents to discuss their frustrations, some of their concerns were misdirected as they fell within the ambit of provincial and national government.
She pointed out that an ‘incorrect expectation’ had been created that the City ‘can simply remove homeless people from the streets of Sea Point’.
Jacoby was quoted by IOL as saying: ‘The City’s Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy is implemented across the board and all due process is followed, including various warnings. We are at the coalface of our communities and we witness the impact of the dire South African economic situation on our residents and businesses.’
[Picture: Sharon Ang from Pixabay]