The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works and Infrastructure Development is facing mounting financial pressure as it grapples with a municipal rates debt of R1.7 billion.
The amount significantly exceeds the department’s annual budget of R900 million and has raised concerns about its ability to meet financial obligations to municipalities.
According to Martin Meyer, part of the challenge stems from the department continuing to pay rates on nearly 1,500 government properties that have been hijacked or illegally occupied.
The department owns a total of 10,067 properties across KwaZulu-Natal.
Meyer said the situation has been worsened by chronic underfunding and inaccurate billing from municipalities.
“We don’t always get the right bills from the municipalities. If we have 10,000 properties, we can’t check every bill. There are a lot of issues why we are here. We are chronically underfunded for rates, the debt grows, and now municipalities and residents are suffering,” Meyer said.
He added that illegally occupied properties are also contributing significantly to the growing debt.
“We have buildings that we can’t use for government, but we must pay for them. Sometimes the occupants tap into electricity and water, which also has to be paid. That is a huge issue for us, and one we are going to work on very hard,” he explained.
The department currently has about 700 hijacked houses in Ulundi that were previously occupied by government officials before 1994.
Meyer said authorities are considering introducing a rent-to-buy programme for people living in those homes.
“If it doesn’t serve the public, it must not belong to the department,” he said.
A significant portion of the outstanding debt is linked to properties located in Msunduzi Local Municipality and eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
Meyer also revealed that the department is in discussions with municipalities about exempting schools from property taxes.
“Why are we taxing schools? If we can at least exempt the schools, it will help us a lot,” he said.