Who qualifies?

WORDS AND IMAGES: MARECIA DAMONS
PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY ON WWW.GROUNDUP.ORG.ZA

The City launched a campaign last week to help those who need it to apply for indigent support and rates relief.

Families with total household income of R7 500 or less per month may qualify for a discount on water, sewerage, electricity, and waste collection bills and on property rates.

During the first day of the campaign, at the Westridge Civic Centre in Mitchells Plain last week, residents, mostly elderly homeowners, came to discuss applications for financial relief. Mayoral Committee Member for Finance Siseko Mbandezi says that 70 residents attended and of these, 20 applied for indigent support.

GroundUp spoke to 62-year-old Clifford van Heerden from Bothasig. He says he used to benefit from indigent support but when he found work as a technician in 2013, he fell just outside the income threshold. Due to illness he lost his job after just six months and now relies on social grants for himself, his 95-year-old mother, his brother, and son aged 27.

Without a steady income, he struggled to pay his municipal accounts. By 2021, his arrears were more than R60 000. When he visited the Milnerton revenue office in January 2021 to reapply for the relief, he was told by officials that he must pay one month’s municipal bill and arrange to pay off his arrears. Finally, he paid R1 800 upfront and is still paying off the arrears.

Ward 81 Councillor Ashley Potts says homeowners applying for support need to understand that their bills won’t just go away. “People often wait until they get the disconnection notice before they come forward and complain because they have to pay a reconnection fee,” says Potts.

He says residents are often reluctant to complete the application process because they don’t understand which documents are needed. He acknowledges that collecting the correct documents can be frustrating. He said an indigent application takes two to three months to finalise. If applicants cannot visit a revenue office, they can get help from their ward councillor, Potts says.

Some beneficiaries of indigent support fail to renew the application before it expires, and incur debt as a result, says Mbandezi. In this case, they must make payment arrangements for the debt in addition to an upfront payment.

He says indigent support is valid for 12 months but can be withdrawn if the beneficiary no longer meets the criteria.

The City also offers full rates rebates to pensioners and those dependent on social grants.

“If residents are dependent on a pension or a social grant, and are 60 years or older earning R4 500or less gross income a month, they may qualify for a 100 percent rates rebate. Pensioners aged 60 years or older earning more than R4 501, but no more than R17 500 a month, may qualify for a 10 percent to 95 percent rates rebate,” says Mbandezi.

The rates rebate for pensioners is valid for three-year periods.

Besides indigent support, he says, tenants may qualify for rental housing relief if they rent a property from the City and have an income of R4 500 or less per month.

The City says more than 40 percent of households get free basic services through the indigent support programme. In the 2022/23 financial year, the City allocated R2.3 billion for indigent relief and R1.45 billion for rates rebates.

The City says it plans to visit other communities during the remainder of the year.