Bloemfontein has spoken: A ratespayers strike is not a protected course in itself

South African municipal authorities are in a terrible state and residents, rates-payers (many of whom are residents) and businesses operating within particular municipalities have developed hostility towards paying monies which are perceived to be or are maladministered.

Ultimately the residents and ratespayers of the municipality within which Kroonstad finds itself formed an association which like many other residents and ratespayers associations embarked on a rates strike. One of the striking members, a Ms Rademan, found that the municipality had terminated her electricity supply even though she had paid her electricity bill (it seems this is a postpaid account). Subsequently Ms Rademan (presumably with the support of some form of the association) approached the magistrates court to compel the reconnection of her electricity. The case has moved through the High Court to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled last week Thursday (1st December) and effectively confirmed both the reasoning and the finding of the Bloemfontein High Court which set aside a decision by the magistrate for the Kroonstad district which gave Ms Rademan reprieve. An advantage of the manner in which this case has been handled is that we have two good judgments, one in English and one in Afrikaans. Unfortunately for Ms Rademan she is finding herself with costs from three courts and these costs do grow.

The judgment which bears the reference Rademan v Moqhaka Municipality & others (173/11) [2011] ZASCA 244 (01 December 2011) is a judgment which any person considering withholding monies from the municipality should consider. The reasoning of the Supreme Court of Appeal is crisp and its findings above any real criticism when regard is had to the relevant statutory provisions. Of course there is always the possibility of a Constitutional Court challenge on the basis that the legislation is unconstitutional.

I don’t believe that the Constitutional Court will find the relevant provisions of the Municipal Systems Act unconstitutional for two reasons: Firstly the Constitution does not contain any provisions requiring meaningful representation before taxation or that the government failing in critical duties may justify certain steps - in so far as this may be viewed as a flaw in the Constitution itself I align myself for fairly complex reasons with the view, in so far as certain political interests advocate the inclusion of such a provision in order to enhance “accountability” I do not. Secondly the Constitutional Court has already in Pretoria City Council v Walker 1998 (2) SA 363 (CC) placed its flag on the mask against a dissent into anarchy. A feature strongly endorsed by the Rademan decision is the fact that municipal rates are “part of the civic and contractual responsibilities” of ratespayers and that “for a municipality to be able to properly and efficiently

One area of the law which this case does not address and which is relevant to Kouga ratespayers is whether a ratespayer must pay the rates assessed by the municipality according to inflated property values of whether they may pay rates on a lower valuation of the property if the second valuation is in order – this is a major issue due to the assessment on the market value of property. I suspect that the statutory basis for rates determination will entail a pay first argue later policy and that the municipal authorities will not endorse a policy by which a ratespayer may pay on a lower assessment.

However the political considerations behind the law are still open to debate. Is it correct that residents and ratespayers have no recourse against the municipality who simply misuses their funds? The view of the courts appears to be that the law itself is the recourse and in exchange for the protection which the Rule of Law brings we surrender our right to self-help in the form of a rates strike; of course we can turn to our courts (we have a Constitutional right of access to legal recourse after all) but the record suggests that litigation by many follows debt collection, commerce and evading conviction for criminal behaviour and not the maintaining a democracy. Perhaps South African’s are not sufficiently prepared to litigate about important issues and principles, being too afraid of descending into the perceived (and possibly real) litigant society of the USA and the unfortunate cynicism that may emerge on finding that whilst poor unsatisfactory and shoddy legal services may be obtained easily, quality litigation is both costly and inconvenient - unless you happen to be a public official facing criminal charges. (Just ask the President, whose office repeatedly demonstrates the shoddiest of work while his personal criminal defence team extract massive fees paid by the fiscus.) Sadly certain government entities are more afraid of certain well connected entities than they are of the law itself – rather keep particular business or party interests happy than comply with the law, after all who is going to take you to court and even if they succeed it is public monies that are spent; and this may include Kouga. In addition to the courts we also have recourse through the municipal council’s legislative mandate, we can lobby for a municipal policy which allows the creation of a holding trust for ratespayers funds in dispute. The municipality would be well served by a policy which sees the proper declaration and resolution of individual and collective disputes instead of a general disquiet that currently exists.

 

Suffice it to state that unless a policy creating space for the entrustment of monies by ratespayers as a withholding rates unless specific issues are addressed is created a rates strike by ratespayers simply will not succeed and Kouga not only have a right but a legal duty to break the strike by cutting services. Of course the prospects that some ratespayers purporting to be in a rates strike are simply acting on a pretext which undermines service delivery could see an improvement for residents as the municipality will have more funds. Unfortunately the issue is one upon which measurement of the management and administrative structures are important, further as many municipalities have demonstrated the two dominant political organizations in Kouga both appear to set course on policies which are as prejudicial to the poor as they are idiotic. In the present instance  the Kouga Municipality has bizarrely embarked on terminating access to tenants without complying with the prescripts of the Constitutional Court decision in Joseph & others v City of Johannesburg & others 2010 (4) SA 55 (CC) which requires that 14 days notice be given before terminating access to electricity and that the municipality must make it possible for tenants to enter into a relationship with the municipality for services. Unfortunately this is a subject on which the concept and principles of sub iudice prevent me from commenting at this time.

 

[Small category note: I have included a tag “legal opinion” although this is not to suggest that this piece is or should be viewed as a legal opinion, but rather that it has a bearing on an issue relating to the seeking of or reliance on legal opinions. A legal opinion can be sought from one of the many legal practitioners within the Kouga municipality] 

Crimespotter facility

Crimespotter is a facility within the www.Mobilitate.co.za website for monitoring and managing incidents of crime within a specified area. A Crimespotter CPF has been setup for the J Bay area, and a few recent crimes have been posted. 

Crimespotter is basically a replacement for the Gotcha crime reporting website that Trevor Watkins has maintained for the last 6 months. Residents can register on Mobilitate and report any crimes or suspicious activity in our area.

The article below is from the Crimespotter development team.

Once again I would like to welcome you to the CrimeSpotter community, and take this opportunity to give you an update as to how things are progressing. Over the past few months our development team has been working hard to further tailor our system to better fit your specific needs. This has proved successful and we are growing on a daily basis. Before reading any further please keep in mind that CrimeSpotter is a Social Community Initiative birthed in the spirit of the ‘Lead SA Campaign’, and thus, all services and functionalities offered by us are 100% free of charge and always will be.

A few of our popular functionalities that you may already know about are as follows:

·         Free SMS crime alerts can be sent across all members that are registered with your CPF/Network on our system. (This can only be done by the CPF/Network creator and those approved as managers)

·         Suspicious vehicle registry which is cross searchable across all CPFs/Networks  that have been created on our system. (Suspicious vehicles can only be logged by CPF creators and approved managers – for security and info verification reasons)

·         Map based crime reporting accurate to specific streets and crossings, to easily identify hot spots in your area. (Using a map system similar to that of Google Maps)

·         The events calendar functionality which automatically sends a notification to all your registered members via email. (Great for notifications of CPF meetings, fund raisers and general reminders)

·         A customizable patrol schedule which will automatically send a reminder to your patrollers regarding their shift, 24 hours before hand via email, and 20 minutes before the start of their shift via SMS. (Patrol schedules can only be viewed by approved managers  and patrollers)

To further assist you in communicating with your members you can now:

·         Send a bulk email across all members registered with your CPF/Network

·         Message any person who has requested to join your CPF/Network on CrimeSpotter. (This will enable you to further verify and validate the person’s credentials)

Struggling to get your members on board? We can now offer you the option to bulk register your existing members, helping you to streamline your operation. Use us as a platform to structure your CPF/Network or as an effective supplement. I would also like to encourage you to log any suspicious vehicles in your area, and use the discussion forum on the CrimeSpotter home page to report any criminal activity or patterns you have identified. Knowledge is power and this information needs to be shared across all CPF’s/Networks. Crime has seized our communities, and communication is the key to us reclaiming our safety and security. 

If I could be of any assistance to you, or if you have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

                    Together we can forge a better South Africa 

JAG, SOS Project and Mpendulo Savings

The Jeffreys Bay Residents Association has recently setup the JBay Activities & Groups googlegroup (known as JAG), to facilitate communication between civic groups based in J Bay. A googlegroup allows easy and controlled email communication between group members. Currently the idea is being tested with just 11 members, before all the rest of the J Bay civic groups are invited to join.


A member of JAG, Erena Slabbert of the SOS Project, asked the following question concerning another JAG member, Mpendulo Savings. 

Can you please explain why this Mpendulo savings group want donations.  There are a few groups in Jbay working very hard to help the sick and destitute in the township, our group (SOS project) as well as the others are absolutely dependent on donations from the community.  My group works only among the sick and infirm who we help with food parcels when there is NO INCOME – so this means they cannot help themselves, they are mostly too sick to anyway. 

Jill Thompson, director of Mpendulo Savings, provided the following reply.

Recently, a member of JAG Google groups asked why Mpendulo Savings was asking for donations when there were other organizations completely dependent on private donations that are working very hard in the township community with people who have no income and/or are too sick to work or care for themselves.

Before I answer the question directly, I want to provide a little background on who we are and the role our organization plays amongst economically vulnerable populations. The goal of Mpendulo Savings’ as a non-profit, tax exempt, community based Trust, is to build the economic resilience of vulnerable households. We do this by mobilizing community members in the townships to self-select members who will form a savings group. We provide training for the groups and monitor them each time they meet. For this we employ four training officers who come from township areas. We do not give any money to the groups, nor do we take money from them, other than a token fee to cover part of the cost of the group savings kit. After a year, each group is expected to operate independently. So far we have 20 groups doing just that.

Our member profile is as follows:

- 80% are women,

- the majority are between 25 and 40 years old; but more than 25% are over 50 years old and 10% are between 15 and 25 years old

- nearly 60% receive a government social grant

- 44% care for children who are not their biological offspring, the majority are grandchildren

- 30% operate some type of micro-business; usually from their home

- 42% depend on casual or part time employment

- More than half our members are women heads of households

This profile is by no means THE most vulnerable in the community. They are poor, but stable. This does not mean, however, that they are out of danger. Some are teetering on the edge of stability and others are one paycheck away from having to rely on charity from their family, neighbors or an organization providing food parcels. If the organizations providing this service feel they are working hard now….. imagine how it would be if these vulnerable households had no safety net. This is a very real concern because of the silent economic crisis brought about by the impact of HIV/AIDS. And this brings me to the role our organization plays and why we do what we do.

HIV/AIDS is a moving target. A household may have been stable at the onset of an HIV/AIDS related (usually health) crisis; however, when a household’s safety net is depleted, it can slide into destitution. Most likely, a person has experienced several health crises already before getting to the place where s/he has no resources of her/his own now and must rely on charity. Mpendulo Savings works to prevent the slide to destitution and to help people bounce back once they get through an economic shock so they can be self reliant.

If there are not efforts to slow down or halt such a downward slide to economic devastation, or to help people bounce back from crises, two consequences can result: 

1) the volume of households that become very vulnerable to the point of destitution will overwhelm the capacity of anyone to respond and 

2) there will be fewer households economically strong enough to form part of a community safety net. Therefore, preventing the erosion of economic resources by assisting households to strengthen them before crises have an impact is as important as responding to situations that need rescuing.

As for why we ask for donations; there are a few reasons; 

1) a sound strategy for any non-profit is to have a variety of income streams because it is risky to “have all your eggs in one basket”. Donations are one part of our strategy; 

2) private donations usually come without the same type of strings attached to government or more formal donor funding, so we can be flexible in responding to the capacity building needs of our savings groups, and 

3) we feel it is important that the more affluent community of JBay are afforded the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of the poorer community from different angles; and to discover that— although there are many in desperate straits who cannot help themselves—there are just as many others, while still poor, are able and more than willing to help themselves.

I don’t feel that soliciting donations needs to be a ‘zero sum game’ where in order for one organization to gain it means another one has to lose. Rather, I see that people who give to non-profits and causes are motivated by different passions. One person may be passionately committed to donating towards the delivery of food parcels to the sick and infirm and be totally disinterested in what Mpendulo Savings does. Someone else may be passionate about stopping the Thuyspoint nuclear station and give their all to that, but they wouldn’t be interested in food parcels or Mpendulo. Someone else again may feel that developing vulnerable households’ capacity to manage their savings, start a micro business and get out of debt to loan sharks is the answer and will donate to Mpendulo Savings and not be interested in food parcels or the nuclear station, others are motivated by the plight of neglected animals…and so on.

To wrap this up, I feel that the solutions to poverty must come from a patchwork of approaches. No one organization can possibly do it all…and that includes government. It takes all of us joining hands to make it happen. Let us thank God there are organizations like SOS, Victory Outreach and other church organizations, in addition to Social Development, to step in when a household hits rock bottom. But let us also thank God that there are organizations like Mpendulo Savings that don’t wait for a disaster to happen before taking action.