The eThekwini Municipality says parastatals with an outstanding debt in the City have raised objections about the value of the properties they own.
This was revealed in a report outlining processes undertaken by the municipality to recover outstanding debt from parastatals. According to the report outlined the National Ports Authority, Transnet, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), the Department of Human Settlements and the Ingonyama Trust collectively owe the City R231.3 million. This amount includes R216.6 million in arrears and R14.6 million current debt.Amounts will be recovered
The tabled report notes that the amounts outstanding have not been recovered due to various factors. “The report states that government departments and parastatals own a number of properties within the Municipality and in a number of instances these departments and parastatals raise objections against the value of these properties. If they are unhappy with the outcome they raise appeals and in most cases they do not pay for rates until the appeal process is finalised,” the municipality notes.“The report concludes that the outstanding amount will be recovered from the parastatals once the valuation issues are resolved while the amounts owed by the Department of Human Settlements will be reversed once the Executive Committee and Council approves the report. The amount by the Ingonyama Trust is always included in the provision for bad debts.”
