ANGRY RATEPAYERS, RESIDENTS LOCKED OUT AT TOWN COUNCIL

PIGG’S PEAK – The Pigg’s Peak Town Council had to lock its doors to prevent a group of ratepayers from entering the premises to deliver a petition.

The Pigg’s Peak Ratepayers Association wants the town council to stop the planned auctioning of properties that owe rates. Yesterday, about 20 residents and some senior members of the Pigg’s Peak Ratepayers Association, approached the town council to demand that the auction, scheduled for September 30, 2022, be stopped. Should the proposed auction go ahead, the town council would collect at least E3.8 million from the sale of the properties.

Auctioned

According to an advert, 10 properties are expected to be auctioned. The residents and ratepayers, including police officer Sergeant Busta Vilakati, were at the town council yesterday. However, the doors were locked to prevent all the people from entering and only a few, including some police officers were allowed entry.  More police officers, including Pigg’s Peak Station Commander Assistant Superintendent Dino Nzalo, were among the officers who later arrived. Vilakati, who is also the Secretary of the Pigg’s Peak Ratepayers Association, was among those who were allowed entry into the building while others remained outside, angry that they had not been allowed entry. The residents also wanted to deliver a petition but they refused to hand it over to anyone else other than the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mzwandile Ndzinisa.

After some minutes, the CEO, accompanied by police officers, exited the building to listen to the concerns of the residents and ratepayers. Vilakati spoke on behalf of the residents. He said the reason the residents headed to the civic centre was to deliver a petition. He said following a newspaper advert, the residents wanted to know what instrument the town council used to auction the properties. He said the council had not involved the residents or the councillors in the decision. Further, Vilakati said the councillors no longer had the mandate to make such decisions because their term of office had ended. He said since their term of office had ended, they had no authority to act on behalf of the ratepayers. Reading through the petition, Vilakati said the residents were still trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic effects. He also said the town council hardly called residents for meetings to inform them about such important decisions. Vilakati also said the residents were not happy that every time they wanted to see the CEO, it was difficult to do so. He said there was always a problem and that police officers ended up being called.

Happy

Dan Dlamini, who was also among the residents, said they were not happy that the civic centre now had controlled access. He said in the past, it was easy for people to enter and see the treasurer or CEO without difficulty but that this had changed. “We were not consulted about this,” said Dlamini. The CEO eventually received the petition. He said some of the issues would be discussed by the Board. This was after Vilakati intercepted to remind him that the residents wanted an answer before the end of business today. Vilakati also said the residents and ratepayers would be back to follow up on the matter tomorrow.

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