“I can confirm they have started with disconnections. It’s quite a few houses,” he said.

The WRA, with the eThekwini Ratepayers Movement, has been at the forefront of the rates boycott.

On Thursday mayor Mxolisi Kaunda confirmed a handful of households in Westville had boycotted rates payments and said the city would disconnect them.

“Don’t think everyone who resides in Westville has decided to withdraw their rates. It is only two or three streets and we will be dealing with those. If they don’t pay us we will cut them off.”

He warned they had identified and would “target” those who were not paying for municipal services.

“We have a list of the people who are withholding their rates. They gave us that list in court. We know our first targets. Those who are not paying us we must cut them off because it is unlawful to withhold rates payments.”

The standoff between the municipality and ratepayers has seen them deciding to hold their monthly municipal and rates payments in a bank account since July instead of paying them to the city.

The municipality has since revised its tariff hike and held several meetings with ratepayer groups around the city but that has done little to diffuse the situation.

Kaunda said they have been having “fruitful meetings” with ratepayers associations and there are others in the pipeline, including a meeting with Umhlanga ratepayers.

“We’ve met different ratepayers associations and had fruitful meetings. We gave them a detailed plan of what we are doing and they acknowledged we’ve had disasters in the city and that we are working. They are saying they will support us, even in Westville.”

The WRA has since made a court application to interdict the city from initiating disconnections.

On Wednesday municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana, refuted rumours circulating on social media claiming the WRA had been granted the interdict against the city.

Sisilana confirmed there is an interdict application by the WRA and that the city’s legal department was attending to it. The matter is to be heard on November 1.

Responding to the mayor’s comments, Gaffar questioned Kaunda’s handling of the matter and questioned the progress on holding councillors who owe money to the city to account.

“Clearly the municipality is acting as if it is above the law. They have not made any attempt to resolve the dispute we have with the city.”

“As the association we are awaiting a response from the city regarding all those councillors and staff who have not been paying. Why were they not targeted?”

Source: Times Live