The Makhado Municipality has extended the period for inspection of the new valuation roll and the lodging of objections till 30 April this year.

The Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association (SRPA) said that they had written a letter requesting an extension to the municipality, whereafter the municipal manager, Mr Sakkie Mutshinyali, met with the SRPA manager, Mr Phillip Olivier.

The SRPA gave their reasons for requesting the extension as the inaccessibility of the roll on the Internet and/or difficulty in accessing it, and the fact that many residents find it hard to get to the municipality in person for inspection of the roll.

A resident was told by one of the relevant officials that there are many objections, but that a number could not be given, since objections are lodged at different offices of the municipality and also at regional offices.

Olivier said that residents would have to realize that this was their final chance to inspect the roll and lodge an objection if they did not agree with the valuation. “Residents are urged not to wait until the end of April to look at the valuation of their properties. You might miss the bus and end up paying the high rate for the next four years. The time to lodge a complaint is now. It will be futile to complain afterwards. We do not foresee that there will be another extension,” Olivier said.

Property owners can inspect the valuation roll at offices C041, C001 or C034 at the Makhado municipal buildings in Krogh Street. The completed objection form must be returned to the same offices.  An alternative way to obtain property valuations would be to SMS or phone your stand number and address to Olivier of the SRPA on 082 679 8324 or 071 657 3415 for the valuation. “We have had group queries where one resident would send a whole list of stand numbers and we reply with the valuations,” Olivier said. 

Those who wish to obtain their valuation from the municipal website at this point in time may have difficulties, unless they have downloaded the valuation roll while it temporarily appeared on the website of the municipality. In February, the whole valuation roll for residences and businesses appeared on the website. In the last week of February, the roll was split into different sections to make access more convenient, although it was not stated what parts of town appeared in which sections. This week the valuation roll was found to have disappeared completely on the website, with the exception of the agricultural roll, which was complete from the farm Aangenaam Uitzicht to Zyvergat.