COGTA condems levies or fees charged to community members in Dikgokgong, Limpopo Province
The Ministry for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) has noted with concern the contents of the article that appeared in the Sowetan Newspaper, dated 05 September 2016, titled – “Chief forces villagers to pay to use cemetery”.
This actions are in no way consistent with the laws of our country and fly in the face of our country’s constitution. It is important to note that there is no provision in our constitution that could be found or allow any other structure, except government to impose levies or taxes.
Section 21(6) of the Constitution determines that “Until the legislation envisaged in section 229(1)(b) of the new Constitution is enacted, a municipality remains competent to impose any tax, levy or duty which it was authorized to impose when the Constitution took effect.” The said section 229 deals with municipal fiscal powers and functions and states in subsection (1)(b) that a municipality may impose taxes, levies and duties appropriate to local government if so authorized in terms of national legislation. The section further states that no municipality may impose income tax, value-added tax, general sales tax or customs duty. A municipality is not allowed to delegate the imposition of rates, taxes, levies and duties [section 160(2) of the Constitution].
It is therefore clear that only government may impose levies and taxes, and only for as far as it is authorised by the Constitution. Furthermore, it is implied in these provisions that such levies and taxes may only be imposed for the purposes of development.
It is within the context that the Minister for CoGTA, honourable Des van Rooyen echoes the sentiments of the Chairperson of the Provincial House of traditional leaders, Kgoshi Malesela Dikgale in condemning this fees charged to the community of Dikgokgopheng Village in Limpopo Province. What is worrying is that, these fees are expected even in times of grief when people have lost their loved ones.
“As government we recognise that without laws, regulations or policies, there could be chaos and it would be the survival of the strong and rich, at the expense of the poor and the weak, but rules cannot be enacted to satisfy the few and hurt the masses, whilst being inconsistent with the constitution”, said Minister van Rooyen.
Laws or regulations are important for a society for they serve as a norm of conduct for communities. “Guided by the letter and spirit of Ubuntu principles (Botho), our communities cannot again suffer the injustices suffered by many of our people during apartheid”, said Minister van Rooyen.
The Minister sounded a clarion call to all communities and leaders to always ensure that all their actions and decisions are consistent with the constitution of our country and called upon the leadership of Dikgokgopheng to desist from muscling poor communities with unjust rules and regulations.
This unlawful actions cannot take place in a year when we celebrate the 20th year of our constitution which should be guiding all our actions. “We hope that this matter will be resolved speedily to allow communities to be free in the land where they live”, said Minister van Rooyen.
Enquiries:
Legadima Leso
CoGTA Communication
Cell: 083 378 9495
