PSPF PUNCHES HOLES IN COMPOSITION OF COURT

MBABANE - PSPF punched a myriad of holes in the composition of the Valuation Court of the Mbabane Municipal Council and the credibility of the valuer.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) Masotja Vilakati, the members of the Valuation Court relied heavily on the skill and information provided to them by the valuer identified as Mphila. He brought it to the attention of the court that none of the members of the Valuation Court were property valuers. “The clerk of the Valuation Court who has no right to do so fully participates in the process and assists Malichi to such an extent that an objector is effectively on his own having to ‘fight the valuer’  of the court and the clerk to the court. It is submitted that this is also a reviewable irregularity and an unfair process,” submitted the CEO.

Experience

The applicant (PSPF) further contended that the Valuation Court itself was not properly constituted on the basis that the person appointed as the valuer allegedly had no experience in valuing properties such as those in question and was also not properly registered as a professional valuer in Eswatini. “Our understanding is that professional valuers in Eswatini must be duly registered with the Council for Architects, Engineers, Surveyors and Allied Professionals or alternatively with the South African Council for Property Valuers Profession (SACPVP) as a professional valuer in terms of the Property Valuers Act No.47 of 2000 or other similar body such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS),” said Vilakati.

He said, the applicant had made enquiries to the Architects, Engineer, Surveyors and Allied Professionals Registration Council as to whether  or not Mphila was registered as a valuation professional. The response that the applicant reportedly got, according to Vilakati, was that Mphila was not registered and was not legally qualified to sit in that capacity in the Valuation Court. “It is submitted that on that further basis on the composition of the Valuation Court fell afoul of Section 18 of the Rating Act and to that extent, the deliberation and subsequent decision upon which the Valuation Court is reached is void,” he argued.

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