CONTINUED PROBLEMS WITH THE OBJECTION/APPEAL PROCESS

The SFB Residents Association has been very involved in the Objection Process and as such has been more aware of problems than the average ratepayer. We have been horrified at the poor planning that the Municipality have put in place. Listed below are several issues of concern.

The Objection and Appeal forms are an absolute disgrace. The forms have such small spaces to fill in the details, is it any wonder that addresses are misspelt and information incorrect when the Valuations Department get back to these ratepayers. Many ratepayers have still not received a response to their Objections. It is also not clear in the forms what information is required.

Several Ratepayers sent letters to the Municipal Manager and never received a reply from him. I was not surprised to hear this, given that the MM has never replied to any correspondence I personally have had with him nor ever returned a phone call.

It amazes me that when the chips are down and the Objections are flowing in, the permanent staff of the Municipality, are nowhere to be seen. The valuations department is then handed over to contract workers who have to take all the abuse and frustration of the ratepayers.
Many ratepayers have received letters from the Valuer giving the wrong information, eg. wrong erf numbers, wrong size of property etc. On top of this letters were sent out that were not dated at all and then in the letter it stipulated that the ratepayer had 21 days within which to respond????

Many objections were deemed late, until proof of submission was sent to the department. Several other objections were deemed to not have been received at all. Those who had proof were able to supply this, but what about those who unfortunately did not keep proof? They will simply be disadvantaged because of an inept Municipality.

What about the ratepayers that submitted their information via email or fax to the valuations department, not knowing that the Computer had crashed and that the fax number was linked to the computer. These ratepayers will just be deemed to have not submitted anything at all.
The Valuations Department operate in a very small office with 4 ladies and no space to operate in. They share a fax machine with several other people and the fax machine is down the passage. The probability of missing documents is high under these circumstances. I also discovered that there was no Computer System to deal with the Valuation process, the contractors had to design one.

It was learned that the Valuation Contract with the Valuer included supplying the paper for all the correspondence. This on top of the huge amount of money that he was paid. New buyers during this period have been given mixed messages. Some were allowed to continue with the process that the previous owner started, and others were denied this. Does this seem fair.

Ratepayers have been told that it is their responsibility to follow up if they have not yet had a response. Any number of ratepayers will concur that trying to get through on the one number at the Municipality is an impossibility. Also the Municipality have made so many promises of having information out on time, which they have not kept that ratepayers could be forgiven for assuming that the process has again been delayed.

Why were properties that had an objection lodged, not been visited to resolve the issues, this would have diminished the Appeals and consequently the expenses linked to this. Lastly why are the Appeal Board Members, comprised of people from the homelands, with no experience of property in our area.

Note from Joe regarding the status quo with the KM

Meeting with KM

Folks we had a very blunt first meeting with the KM yesterday when no punches were held by either party. At the end of the day the session was well handled by the facilitator Christo Nel. The workshop of the 1st and 2nd of March could be of huge significance to the betterment of local government in our area if we remain focused.

Of significance is that the KM has undertaken to provide us with answers to a host of questions prior to the workshop. So far so good.

Joe