Strength in Numbers: Imbizo Aftermath & 2025/2026 Budget Process Continues

CLICK HERE for full access to our complete budget submission!

We were absolutely blown away by the overwhelming support of the community at the imbizo!!! 

Thank you so much to each and every resident who turned up on the evening to support us with your presence and your participation.  It was an unprecedented turnout of over 600 residents, the likes of which has been unheard of for decades. 

Our thanks also go out to our valued KwaDukuza Organised Residents Alliance (KORA) partners: KwaDukuza Residents Forum, ratepayers associations from Tinley Manor, Blythedale and Zinkwazi, the iLembe Civic Action Movement, the KwaDukuza Business Forum and Iwahu Lethu. 

It was abundantly clear that our community is not happy with the proposed rates increases and about the mismanagement of electricity losses that have put us in such a precarious financial situation.  Another resounding theme was that our residents feel disrespected by KDM through their lack of communication and transparency. This was compounded by the absence of the mayor and the municipal manager, who were present at a Council meeting earlier in the day. 

As promised, DOCRRA’s finance subcommittee has been hard at work putting together our official budget submission to KDM.  This written submission, sent on behalf of the KwaDukuza Organised Residents Association, includes our objection to an overall increase of approximately 9.33% by means of a reduction in the rates rebate from 25 to 18 percent.  Our proposal is to keep the rebate at 21%, and to make up the 4% in revenue from the illegal electricity amnesty programme, the additional rates revenue from properties added to the valuation roll as they are developed through the year, and any other revenue loss mitigation strategies in play. This was discussed in person with the KDM Finance business unit at a meeting that occurred last Friday, 2 May 2025. 

Read the full submission now to go into further granular detail on our objections, suggestions and points of concern.

As part of our proposals, and to address the dissatisfaction with regard to communication, we have asked for a commitment to the following items, many of which were agreed to at the imbizo by the deputy mayor:

• Reinstatement of dedicated KORA quarterly meeting, agenda TBD by KORA, to be attended by KDM Exco and EDs,

• Establishment of advisory boards for critical business units (such as electricity, finance etc.) where industry experts/professionals collaborate with KDM to increase capacity – DOCRRA to have a permanent seat,

• Full transparency and monitoring of revenue loss mitigation programmes with agreements on appropriate consequence management measures for failure to recover revenue,

• Commitment to ‘SLA’ style agreements regarding communication response times to PAIA requests, emails, petitions and submissions on IDP and budget processes,

• Observer status for DOCRRA at all Municipal Public Accounts Committee meetings as well as any lekgotla gatherings,

• A written acknowledgement of our submission with responses to the comments and suggestions it contains, by the finance business unit as well as any other BUs referred to therein, on or before Monday, 26 May 2025.

We look forward to hearing from our municipality and will report back on any developments as soon as they are received. 

A huge thank you goes out to all of you who attended the imbizo again, your support is what keeps us going!

If you want to support work like this, please consider joining DOCRRA today.

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Stand in solidarity with thousands of other like-minded residents.