Tshwane's controversial cleansing levy faces court challenge
Image: File
AfriForum is expected to face the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in court on July 24 to stop the metro's decision to implement a so-called 'city cleansing levy'.
With this levy, the metro intends to force almost 200,000 residential and more than 60,000 business property ratepayers to pay for a levy that AfriForum considers to be unfair double taxation.
According to the metro's original communication, this levy was supposed to have kicked in on July 1. But AfriForum said it has since been informed that no recovery will be made before August 1.
The levy will collect R194.37 per month from affected households, without offering any corresponding service delivery in return.
AfriForum originally requested an urgent interdict in an attempt to stop the implementation before July 1, but following an agreement between it and the metro, the latter now has further opportunity to supplement their court documents.
The urgent application is scheduled to be heard by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
At the heart of AfriForum's legal challenge is the question of why residents who do not use the city's waste removal services are being hit with an additional tax.
AfriForum will argue that this levy amounts to nothing more than double taxation, as residents are already paying property rates which are supposed to fund 'city cleansing' services.
In their court application, AfriForum argues that the City of Tshwane is trying to mask its financial mismanagement and budgetary failures by demanding more money from hard-working citizens under the guise of a 'cleansing'.
The metro, represented by the Divisional Head of Waste Management, Louis Makhubele, in their answering affidavit labelled some ratepayers as 'freeloaders' and 'beneficiaries who make no contribution', but use the city's facilities.
But AfriForum said these ratepayers are the backbone of Tshwane's income stream, contributing billions in property taxes and other tariffs annually.
'Yet the city chooses to scorn them for taking responsibility for their refuse removal when the municipality has consistently failed to deliver the service they are constitutionally obligated to provide,' said Arno Roodt, AfriForum's district coordinator for Greater Pretoria South.
AfriForum warns that this issue in Tshwane is not an isolated case, but rather a symptom of a wider pattern of municipal collapse, where citizens are expected to carry the burden of dysfunctional administrations.
The organisation argues that, if allowed to proceed unchecked, this levy will set a dangerous precedent for municipalities across South Africa to simply 'charge their way out' of failure, without accountability or actual service delivery.
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