Pietermaritzburg ratepayer associations contemplated the work they had done in 2025 to hold the Msunduzi Municipality accountable.

The Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers, and Civics (MARRC) held its 3rd Annual General Meeting, where it also discussed its trials and tribulations over the past 12 months.

Anthony Waldhausen, CEO of MARRC, stated that they were also embarking on a strategy to raise funds for their projects.

He called on all residents to support the work of MARRC and to donate so that residents can have a voice and hold the municipality accountable.

“Since the establishment of MARRC, we have been operating voluntarily with limited funds to fund potential projects,” he said.

Waldhausen highlighted that they attended a consultation by My Vote Counts in Cape Town in July and a learning exchange visit with partners of Development Action Group (DAG) in Johannesburg in October.

Additionally, MARRC, as an affiliate member of Defend Our Democracy (DOD), conducted several capacity-building workshops for the leadership of the Ratepayers and Residents Association (RRA).

“Ratepayers made submissions on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and constantly held engagements with Msunduzi municipal leadership and officials, and other government departments and organisations,” he stated.

He also highlighted Lincoln Meade residents patching potholes on a Father’s Day fix-up drive, the Panorama RRA’s probe into AfriSam’s blasting operations, and Claridge RRA confrontation with city officials on the disconnection of electricity and water for a week.

Waldhausen said MARRC visited the Johannesburg inner city with the Inner-City Federation organisation, which is a platform for shared knowledge and experiences where Johannesburg inner city residents resolve common issues.

“Despite the many challenges faced by MARRC, we manage to engage with all stakeholders and make inputs to various structures and policy processes, and can hold our municipality accountable. We need to expand the capacity building and training to communities so that they understand how local government functions and how communities can hold the municipality accountable,” he said.

Waldhausen also mentioned that MARRC made a submission to the call from the Minister of Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) to review the White Paper on Local Government and made recommendations that would look at overhauling local government and giving communities more of a say on how their municipality should be run and to address political interference, corruption, nepotism, and cadre deployment.

Piwe Mkhize, founder of the Indlulamithi NPO, a leadership and developmental non-profit organisation based in Pietermaritzburg, described MARRC as a non-racial voice of the voiceless for residents and ratepayers of the City of Choice and surrounding areas.

“Unlike political parties, civics do not get funded by the government to do their work without submitting a proposal. Ratepayers desire quality service delivery and a local government that serves the community effectively. We would like to have confidence in our own senior local government public servants who are supposed to be employed to manage local coffers competently,” she said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

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