Some Musina residents disgruntled with backroom rates collection

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Some residents in Musina in Limpopo have accused the Musina Local Municipality of lack of transparency and empathy. This comes after the municipality started collecting rates from people who have backrooms in their yards.

Thousands of residents in Nancefield, Mushongo and Matswale townships are leasing out backrooms to tenants. Some have built additional rooms to accommodate family members. One of the residents, Geraldine Norton, says she is now using her disability grant to pay for the backroom municipal rates.

The 58-year-old single mother has been living in Nancefield township for years. It was a moment to celebrate and cherish when she secured a stand and an RDP house in 1994. However, over the years, the house became smaller as Norton’s family increased.

She says this necessitated her to build backrooms to accommodate her growing family. With the municipality now collecting rates for the backrooms, Norton says she is sinking deeper into destitution.

“It’s affecting me so much because I remained with nothing. I can’t even put food on the table. Is so much painful because I can’t even hold that money I just see in the phone that I’ve got R2090 from the government for disability, but is going to to municipality. I’m paying all the money to the municipality.”

Rates collection

Other affected residents say investing in backrooms is their only way to make ends meet. They added that there was no proper consultation from the Municipality concerning rates collection.

“This issue of bedrooms it’s not doing any good to us as you can see the unemployment rate in south Africa is too high. Most of the people they are incapable of paying those rates that are demanded by the municipality. And mostly people are paying rates is elderly people and they take more than 75% of the senior citizens grant. It’s just like as good as a nightmare you know there was no proper consultation to our people, the community of Musina. So these guys they are just charging to without any agreement.”

The chairperson of a local civic organization, Freedom Boikanyo, has urged the Musina Municipality to explore other revenue collection avenues.

“We went to the meeting. I proposed to the municipality so that instead of maybe charging backrooms rather collect money from the spazas you know and other businesses. You cannot charge people on their own house. There’s no logic truly speaking. I’m very much disappointed.

Numerous attempts to get comment from Musina Local Municipality housing and planning department, were unsuccessful.

Musina homeowners leasing backrooms to tenants disgruntled due to municipality rates:

 

Reporting by Vutivi Maluleke