Chair, the UDM supports the Vote, but it is imperative that we make this declaration. There are communities in Limpopo, in Port St Johns and in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, who are under pressure from local governments to pay property rates and other taxes. We view this as an unjust bureaucratic action that will only place greater pressure on the tenuous household incomes of very poor people.
The application of property rate taxation in the rural areas should be put on hold until such time as the issues of title deeds and land tenure are resolved. The bitter irony regarding these communities is that they are expected to pay rates to local governments that provide them with little or no services or infrastructure. Yet in towns and cities government has subsidised and is constantly developing and/or upgrading infrastructure.
Does this imply that rural people must pay first before they get services and infrastructure, even though they've built their homes from their own pockets? Instead of the service delivery due to these communities, it is the other way round. I thank you.