CLEAR YOUR PROPERTY OR PAY UP

MBABANE – Ezulwini, is arguably one of the fastest developing towns, has adopted a no-nonsense approach to property owners with overgrown plots.

Property owners have been given an ultimatum to clear their plots within the next 30 days starting from today or bear the consequences of having to incur the cost of clearing the plot at a price to be imposed by the municipality.
As if having to pay for clearance of the plot was not enough, Chief Executive Officer Vusi Matsebula has also instructed property owners to see to it that they have their plots cleared regularly going forward to prevent accompanying environmental health effects. “Failure to abide with this notice will leave the local authority with no option but to clear these properties at a cost which will be recovered from the individual property owners. Continued failure to comply will result in the Town Council taking legal action against the property owners,” said Matsebula. Further, Matsebula said the council would not be held liable for any damages incurred on valuable vegetation species that may have been intentionally kept by property owners.

Against this backdrop, it should be mentioned that the Municipal Council of Mbabane also took policy decision to increase rates to vacant property owners as a way to encourage them to develop their plots. The municipality said this followed a benchmarking process which revealed that the rates for vacant land when compared to developed land were not incentivising the owners to develop these properties. The municipality emphasised that it would like to see properties developed as this would ensure the high valued properties are optimally utilised and take the city closer to Vision 2022. “Council receives a lot of complaints about vacant plots.  Vacant plots are often sources to nuisance in the city as more often than not they are full of overgrowth, some are used as a hideout by criminals. A number of vacant plots are used as refuse or builders rubble dumping grounds,” council claimed. The municipality also said, most often, they had to go around reminding property owners at great costs to maintain their vacant plots. 

It was stated that notwithstanding reminders for most property owners, council had to go the extra mile to arrange contractors to clear these properties of overgrowth. “It should be noted that this approach is not unique to Mbabane but just about all towns in the country charge much higher rates, as a percentage, for vacant land than for land with developments on it. It is further not just a Swaziland practice but a best practice in first world countries as well,” said the municipality in response to a questionnaire regarding rates increases. 

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