eThekwini wins court victory over Westville ratepayers' association

The Durban high court has rejected the Westville Ratepayers' Association's (WRA) application challenging the lawfulness of the rates charged by eThekwini municipality two decades ago.
The ratepayer group had taken the city to court seeking to recover the rates they paid between 2005 and 2008, claiming that the payments they made in that period was not lawful due to the municipality's failure to properly promulgate rates.
They backed this claim by an investigation report that WRA had commissioned which found that the municipality had not published the rates promulgation in the Provincial Gazette, thereby not complying with all relevant legislation.
However, the municipality challenged this and maintained that it had complied with the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and published the promulgation in the Gazette.
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the presiding judge confirmed that the WRA did not dispute the assertion made by the city.
'Furthermore, the judge said that 'leaving aside that the application was based on a meritless investigation report, I disagree with the applicant that the municipality was obliged to comply with all relevant legislation in promulgating rates,'' she said.

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