Residents of Durban have embarked on a rent boycott. Many say the eThekwini Municipality is unresponsive to their needs. [Picture: Durban Tourism via Travel Channel]
Arriving at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, one is immediately greeted by the moist air blowing in from the Indian Ocean. The airport itself has a luxurious atmosphere, and the lush sugarcane plantations on its perimeter give a tropical welcome to this city on the east coast of South Africa.
The road from the airport to the city, some 30km away, is good. The N2 – stretching from Cape Town to Ermelo – provides an easy ride from the airport to the city. But when you get there, things begin to fall apart.
Unlike the Zulu art at the airport, one is greeted by beggars at every second intersection. Homeless people have made homes of benches (if those haven’t been stolen) and the verges of pothole-ridden streets are overgrown. The taps are not always running, nor the electricity. Everything that made Durban what it was, is gone.
The signs of decay were there for a long time. Perhaps even before the media started making a noise about Johannesburg’s rapid decline into a dystopian reality more recently. The eThekwini Municipality, although with a more stable coalition government than Johannesburg, has consistently failed to get things right.
While there may be no water, you can easily connect to one of the WiFi hotspots that have popped up around the city. Apply for a senior post and you might even get a salary bump without really deserving it, while the poor perish in poverty.
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Alone and neglected, residents of this once glorious subtropical city have had to fight a series of battles in recent years. It was the residents who had to protect themselves amid the onslaught of anarchy in the July 2021 riots. It was the residents who had to rescue people from submerged houses when floods hit the city (again) in 2022.
Now, residents must save themselves from total collapse. One of the ways they’re trying to do that is by withholding their taxes, “diverting” it, in the words of one resident.
“It’s unacceptable,” said Asad Gaffar, chairperson of the Westville Ratepayers’ Association (WRA), in an interview on Salaamedia. “We’ve got serious service delivery issues and this municipality, instead of focusing on its core responsibilities, they’d rather have parties, fashion shows, soccer tournaments.”
Since August 2023, residents of the affluent Westville neighbourhood have decided to deprive the municipality of their rates. No less than 20 other organisations in the ailing city have since joined the boycott. It’s now being dubbed the eThekwini Rate Protest Movement.
Gaffar estimates they’ve “managed to divert from the city” rates worth approximately R1 million, and they’re not ready to back down until the city speaks to them. “We’re not prepared to put up with this anymore,” he says.
“We want to withhold as much money as we can out of the city coffers because we do not trust the city with our money. That process itself has the possibility of putting the eThekwini Municipality under administration. Right now, it is in the city’s best interest to talk to us,” he says.
The eThekwini Municipality, however, appears reluctant to meet its irate residents’ demands. Notices on their utility bills have declared the game over: pay up within two weeks or have your services disconnected.
But the ratepayers see this is merely an act of intimidation. “People in this campaign understand the risks,” says Gafar.
“We’re prepared to go through whatever process is required to demand accountability and it’s for our hard-earned money. It’s irresponsible of this municipality to think that this money belongs to them and that they can use it as they please.”
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So what do the residents want, really? Well, for Gafar the main issue is that residents be allowed oversight. “We want an oversight in terms of what revenue the city collects, how it is used, where it is used, what’s the process in terms of who gets awarded these contracts and tenders. We want total oversight,” he says.
Accusing the municipality of issuing warnings to “subdue” ratepayers, he is confident they are not in breach of any law. The WRA had previously lodged a Section 102 dispute over tariff hikes. In their view, the municipality has no claim over unpaid rates for the duration of the dispute.
As the rates boycott enters its second month, more communities in Durban are interested in taking this approach. For now, it seems the growing momentum might apply pressure on authorities to act in the best interests of residents. How long this might last before either side buckles, remains to be seen.
