eThekwini Municipality writes off R526 million in deceased estate debt

Close to half a billion rand in debt owed by deceased estates has been written off by the eThekwini Municipality.

The mayor stated that thousands of people have applied through the deceased estate debt write-off programme and had their debts written off.

Last year, the City announced the programme, informing beneficiaries that if there is debt older than 24 months, they may qualify for a debt write-off. The other requirements included that the property value must not exceed R1 million, and the beneficiary must be willing to take over the municipal account to prevent any re-emerging debt.

It was noted that the property must be solely owned by the deceased, and applicants were encouraged to report the late estate to the Master of the High Court. Additionally, the applicant must be of South African descent.

Addressing the media on the issue yesterday, Mayor Cyril Xaba provided an update on the programme.

"Since this programme began, 8,163 applications have been received, amounting to R944 million. I am happy to report that, so far, we have been able to write off the debt for 6,506 people, amounting to R526 million, which is 56% of the applications received. However, there are those who didn’t meet the criteria and were therefore rejected. Our revenue section is currently processing 741 applications."

"The programme is still open, and we encourage people who want to apply to visit our Sizakala Customer Care Centres," he added.

Mayor Xaba also touched on other improvements the City is making to ensure that paying bills is easy for customers.

"We are pleased to report that we have made some changes to the face of the standard municipal bill to ensure that the document is more simple. These changes were necessary because we want customers to understand what they are paying for."

He mentioned that they have also embarked on a programme to digitise revenue management services through the introduction of the e-Services platform. Through this programme, they want to migrate from using the postal service to send customer bills to an electronic method. "Therefore, we want to encourage our customers to register on the e-Services portal so that they can access our services without travelling to municipal offices."

"Through this portal, the City will have updated customer information and be able to send bills electronically to ensure timely delivery. This will, in turn, allow customers to view and pay their bills on time. The platform also allows customers to make payments online as we have integrated a digital payment option," he said. 

Responding to the issue of the cancellation of deceased estated debt, DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa expressed full support for the programme and suggested that it should be extended.

"We had called for the value of the property to be above a million rand in order for the programme to assist more people. The programme will also help the municipality generate more money as they will take responsibility and pay the rates going forward."

Ish Praladh of the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association stated that the debt should be cancelled, saying, "Basically, that money is ratepayers' money anyway. At least ratepayers and communities benefit in a way instead of politicians stealing that money."