On Friday, the 30th September 2022, Pigg’s Peak Town Council (PPTC) was going to sell through public auction properties worth over E3.8 million, in order to recover outstanding rates, however, the auction did not proceed as property owners of the ten (10) properties settled their debts and made payment arrangements before the day of auctioning.
These properties which were due for auctioning belonged to property owners who had failed to comply with the Rating Act of 1995, and also failed to settle their debts after Council had consistently communicated with them. Having non-complying ratepayers compromise service delivery as Council becomes unable to provide essential and quality services in terms of infrastructure development, waste collection and social services amongst others.
It is worth mentioning that selling properties is always Council’s last resort effort, after exhausting all the means and methods used to collect rates, such as sending regular reminders to property owners and providing incentives to complying ratepayers. Mangaliso Sifundza, the Town Treasurer alluded to the fact that the Council’s mandate is to collect rates from all ratable properties within the urban area to finance all service delivery initiatives rather than selling properties.
“Ratepayers are expected to pay their rates on time and communicate with Council in the event they come across challenges so that we can make flexible payment arrangements annually,” he said. He further said Council appreciates the ratepayers who honoured their debts and made efforts to pay.
