Bhisho steps in to fight rates boycotts

LOCAL Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Sicelo Gqobana of the Eastern Cape (left) this week said his department would rescue municipalities facing rates boycotts by disgruntled ratepayers .

“We have no choice but to assist (these) municipalities ,” Gqobana told the local government portfolio committee in the Bhisho Legislature on Tuesday.

He made the statement when his department was presenting its annual report, including the Auditor-General’s report, for the 2009-10 financial year.

According to Gqobana, there was a need for an “appropriate” political response to the rates and tax boycott by ratepayers’ associations, to stop the shrinking of municipal finances.  Click HERE to read the full report in the Daily Dispatch Online.