October 2025 Newsletter

Dear members,

Some comments on Bitou Municipality's current financial situation:

• Outstanding household debt has now exceeded R400 million.
• The collection rate on municipal accounts is down to 88% YTD, meaning debt will likely continue to rise.
• At the end of the first financial quarter, many capital grants related to service delivery projects have zero progress.
• Two of the five director positions remain unfilled, as does the municipal manager position, while Mr. Memani remains on suspension pending his disciplinary hearing.
• As Bitou begins preparing its 2026/27 budget, we will monitor to ensure an increase in the Repair and Maintenance allocation, which has historically been insufficient, resulting in service problems. Attention must be given to this critical issue, including their plans and budgets to eliminate built-up backlogs.
• Water and sewerage capacity remain major concerns as housing expansion continues to strain the current resources.

Municipalities have lost sight of their true purpose, with substantial funds being squandered on unfunded mandates. This needs to stop.

Unfair Tariffs

Recent court cases, including rulings by the Constitutional Court, have confirmed that municipalities cannot arbitrarily set rates and taxes without well-reasoned justification. One implication is that, without zero-based budgeting to support tariffs, they may be unenforceable. The Plett Ratepayers have advocated this for years. Taking note of this legal development, we will monitor the current budgeting process closely. AfriForum is likely to pursue a test case if necessary.  Bitou must act now and ensure tariffs reflect the actual cost of service delivery, rather than arbitrary increases on top of inefficiencies and lazy budgeting. A group of over 40 commercial property owners and estates in Plettenberg Bay are opposing unfair tariff increases, particularly the excessive “availability charges,” implemented under the guise of Revenue Enhancement. These irrational increases deter investment and hinder economic growth. A meeting was held with Bitou Municipality last week to seek a solution. This resulted in a task team being created to look at it. Owners have lodged disputes to prevent service disconnections. If you or any commercial property owners or estates you know have experienced spikes in water availability charges or exorbitant sewerage costs over the past year, please inform us for inclusion in this group. Bitou has been informed that these excessive tariffs are unsustainable and could influence voter behaviour if not addressed swiftly and decisively.

Next Local Government Election

With the next Local Government election taking place in a year, we think it is important to meet with several political parties to hear their LG manifesto and their plans, for Bitou Municipality in particular.  We all know there are a lot of problems in Bitou and if they want to run a candidate, they must have plans to deal with it.

For example, overtime has been a problem for years, the water problem, the looming sewerage capacity problem, broadening the tax base, budget priorities, accountability, senior management appointments., and overall governance.

We want to stress to political parties the importance of running candidates capable of managing a R1 billion budget, overseeing 600-+ employees, and supervising senior professional staff.

ActionSA will be the first Political Party to present their plans to our EXCO in early November.   At the end of this process we hope Plett will be looking at strong capable candidates for consideration come voting day.

Many more issues are in process, and we hope to report good news soon.

Kind regards,
Tony Blignaut