Opposition parties fume over 10% rental increases for eThekwini council flats – Independent Online

By Mphathi Nxumalo Jun 1, 2020

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A report from the citys Human Settlements Unit, tabled at the municipalitys Executive Committee (Exco) meeting recently, recommended a 10% increase in residential rental rates from July.

According to the report: Human Settlements primary business objective is to provide sustainable and affordable rental housing stock to qualifying beneficiaries; and ensure that the facilities are kept in good running order through maintenance, general upkeep and repairs. The current rental regime ranges between R40 and R1200, and the revenue collected does not meet the budgetary requirements needed to operate the facilities in question, and financial sustainability is seriously threatened. The income generated is not enough to cover the costs that should be incurred to provide the service properly.

Further, it found that the situation resulted in the Rental Housing Department not being able to meet the upkeep of various facilities, which led to the deterioration and decay of the housing stock, which included hostels and municipal-owned flats.

The report had been approved for the 2019/20 financial year, but due to technical issues the increase was not implemented.

DA executive council member Yogis Govender said they had voted against this at Exco.

It appears that the key problems here are the lack of control and the dismal rate of recovery of debt. The DA contended that if the municipality had a firm grasp on its debt collection and effectively managed the processes, then increases would be nominal, she said.

What they should be doing is trying to get the money owed by people, who are the majority of people who live in the citys 6000 odd residential units.

IFP exco councillor Mdu Nkosi said they did not support the increase because, with the economic impact of Covid-19, it was going to be difficult for people to make ends meet.

He said most people who lived in hostels and flats were the elderly, the unemployed and those struggling to make ends meet.

Nkosi said this was not going to help the poor.

KwaZulu-Natal Rental Housing Tribunal deputy chairperson Dr Sayed Iqbal Mohamed said these were already tough times for the poor, old and single-headed-households - who were already struggling to meet their rental obligations.

Municipalities ought to freeze rental increases, if rentals cannot be reduced and then deferred.

Similarly, service tariffs need to be pegged and not increased. If we truly care about the citizens, now is the time to find the money to help them, not place them under more pressure, he said.

Mohamed, who is also the chairperson of the Organisation of Civic Rights, said over the past 10 days the Tribunal and the OCR had received hundreds of desperate pleas and heard traumatic stories from people across the province.

He said the situation was getting worse every day as poverty levels increased.

In lockdown alert level 3, we will notice voluminous applications/summonses to evict tenants throughout the country, Mohamed said.

Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the revenue generated from the rental payments was not sufficient to cover the costs of operating.

This included insurance on the buildings, cleaning, maintenance and repairs, and water, sewer, electricity and sanitation services.

He said the rentals were heavily subsidised and, with the increase, a person who was paying the cheapest rental - of R65 a month - would experience an increase of R6.50 to R71.50.

Daily News

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Opposition parties fume over 10% rental increases for eThekwini council flats - Independent Online