Many ratepayers and residents of Jeffreys Bay have ongoing
disputes with the Kouga Municipality (KM) over issues such as property
valuation, sewage removal, water quality, rates and services payments, and so
on. In most cases the KM deals with these disputes in their own good time, or
fails to deal with them at all, while the ratepayer keeps paying and waiting
for a resolution of a sometimes urgent problem.
A widespread rates boycott would need the support of many
thousands of residents, many of whom do not have a current, specific problem
with KM. In addition, a widespread rates boycott would not solve specific problems, but would
address governance in the km as a whole.
For these reasons, the Jeffreys Bay Residents Association
(JBRA) is recommending that individual ratepayers and residents with a specific
problem formally declare a dispute with the KM through legal channels. Once the
dispute has been declared, the KM must formally respond to the dispute in
writing through their legal department, and all disputed payments, levies and
fines may be held in suspension until the resolution of the dispute. For example, if you believe that your
assessed rates are too high, and you have good grounds for this belief, then
payment of the rates in dispute may be suspended until the resolution of the
dispute.
The JBRA has reached an agreement with Blignault &
Vennote, a firm of attorneys in St Francis road, Jeffreys Bay, to formally file
a letter of dispute with the KM on behalf of a JBRA member for the amount of
R80. The resident will provide name and address and details of the dispute
to the attorney, who will then draft and deliver a registered letter to the
Kouga Municipal offices, and will keep the letter on file at the attorney’s
offices. The dispute will also be logged
on the Mobilitate website.
The R80 does not include further legal advice, or an
assessment of the merits of the case. Any further legal costs relating to the
dispute will be for the account of the resident raising the dispute.
The contact details for Blignault & Vennote are as
follows:
Ernie Blignault BA.LLB.(Stell)
082 550 0391
042 293 2211
PO Box 1500
Jeffreys Bay
6330
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