Roll invalid, says SRPA

Date: 23 January 2015 By: Andries van Zyl

The Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association wants to have the 2014 tot 2018 valuation roll for Makhado be declared invalid.

“We are of the opinion that the valuation roll is invalid as the so called ‘valuer’ was not registered or qualified to value properties.  It thus follows that the values attributed to properties, cannot be taken as correct and cannot be used as values whereby the Municipality determines its tariffs for property rates,” said Ms Inga Gilfillan, chairperson of the association. She said that they are seeking legal advice on this matter. “The municipality to date has not addressed any of the appeals that have been brought against individual values, by compiling the necessary committee or informing residents of the necessary dates where appeals can be heard,” Gilfillan said. 

Since the outset, the valuation process for Makhado had been marred by controversy. Almost six months after the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the tender for the compilation for a new 2014 to 2018 valuation roll for Makhado had been obtained through fraudulent means, the Makhado Municipality has also yet to bring criminal charges against the valuator who was awarded the tender.

Makhado municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi confirmed last week that they had still not brought any criminal charges against the valuator, Mr Kulani Dumond Nkuna of Risuna Property Consultants. “The municipality is still considering pressing criminal charges against the service provider [Mr Nkuna], even to institute a lawsuit,” Bobodi said.

On 25 July 2014, Acting Judge D Dosio of the Gauteng North High Court ruled that there had indeed been irregularities in the tender process. These irregularities included, among others, the forging of a signature on the tender documents submitted by Nkuna.

Amidst the controversy and prior to the High Court ruling, Nkuna withdrew from the valuation process by means of a confidential settlement agreement between him and the Makhado Municipality in May last year. By that time, legal proceedings with regard to the awarding of the tenders were already well underway. The legal proceedings were instituted by DDP Valuers, a company competing with Nkuna's, who eventually won their case in the High Court against the municipality, Risuna and Nkuna.

In his judgement, Judge Dosio set aside the awarding of the tender, stating that it had been obtained unlawfully and unfairly. He ordered the municipality, among other things, to reconsider all other tenders submitted, including that of DDP Valuers and gave the municipality 25 days to make a decision.

Since the High Court ruling, however, residents have been left in the dark regarding the 2014 to 2018 Makhado valuation roll, which was implemented on 1 July last year. Last week, the municipality was asked once more to give residents clarity about the controversial valuation roll.

With regard to the High Court order, Bobodi said that the municipality had decided not to re-advertise the tender but opted to appoint DDP Valuers to “deal with outstanding valuation roll legislated responsibilities.”

From Bobodi’s response it is clear that the municipality has no intention of re-compiling the controversial valuation roll. There are, however, several issues regarding the valuation process, after the withdrawal by Nkuna, which raises questions regarding the legitimacy of the valuation roll as a legally binding document.

The Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA) clearly states that only a registered professional valuer can conduct a municipal valuation process, from the initial compilation of the valuation roll right through to the objections and appeals phase. With regard to Nkuna's withdrawal from the process in May, before the objection phase had been finalised, the municipality was asked whom they had appointed as registered professional valuer in Nkuna’s place to handle the objections? In response to this question, Bobodi merely stated that the process “was completed” by the time Nkuna withdrew. This is debatable, as the official responses residents received in June 2014 regarding their objections was not signed by Nkuna nor any other registered professional valuer, but by the municipal manager, Mr Sakkie Mutshinyali, who is not a registered professional valuer.

The municipality was also asked who, as required by law, had certified the completed 2014 to 2018 valuation roll before its final approval for implementation. Here Bobodi’s answer was once again vague, merely stating that it had been signed by a “professional valuer as appointed by the Makhado Local Municipality.”

It has been almost seven months since the implementation of the new valuation roll and the process is still not completed. According to the MPRA, an appeal board should be appointed to handle residents’ appeals if their objections were declined. The appeal board can only be formed and its members appointed by the MEC for Local Government through an official notice in the provincial Gazette. Additionally, the MPRA states that at least one of the members on the board should be a registered professional valuer.

Asked how far the municipality had progressed with regard to addressing the appeals and who the members of the board were, Bobodi indicated that they were “still awaiting appointment of a valuer to serve on the appeal [board] since the valuer who used to serve on the appeal board passed on.” He added that the names of the board members would be made available as soon as the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs appointed a valuer. When this will happen is not clear.

In the meantime, Mr Tinus Nel of DDP Valuers has also confirmed their appointment as municipal valuer for Makhado. According to him, they were appointed to do supplementary valuations with regard to the 2014 to 2018 valuation roll. “To us, this means that we have to look at all properties again and release a supplementary valuation roll by around April 2015,” Nel said and added that they were already busy with the process.

Regarding the High Court case they had won against the municipality and Nkuna, Nel said that residents should remember that the court had only set aside the appointment of Nkuna as valuer and had not set aside the valuation roll. “No court will, after its implementation, declare a valuation roll null and void as it would effectively leave the municipality without an income until the roll is corrected again,” Nel said. 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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