Joburg’s plan to collect rates and taxes at roadblocks is illegal — expert
Legal expert William Booth described the City of Johannesburg’s initiative to target non-paying residents at roadblocks as “totally unconstitutional and illegal”.
In an interview with eNCA, Booth said he couldn’t understand why the metro would even embark on such a process.
“If they pull a motorist over and go up to them and say: ‘Look, you haven’t paid your electricity bill’, what does law enforcement then do?” he questioned.
“They can’t arrest them. It’s not a criminal offence to have not paid your electricity bill, for example. So, if they arrest them, it’s definitely an illegal arrest, and the city could be held responsible.”
“To pull over somebody and to determine whether or not they have an outstanding account with the city, in my view, is not legal,” added Booth.
He said strict processes need to be followed when setting up a roadblock, and their purpose isn’t to identify non-paying residents but rather to determine roadworthiness and tackle drunken driving.
Booth provided advice for motorists caught in one of these roadblocks.
“If you have situations where the city says you owe X and you dispute that, these are civil actions that must be taken by the city,” he said.
“They can’t say you’ve got to pay your electricity bill, and if you don’t play it, we’re going to arrest you. That’s completely illegal and unconstitutional.”
Booth emphasised the importance of knowing one’s rights in these situations, and residents can dispute the bills through civil court processes.
“If there’s a dispute of the bill, how is law enforcement going to address that on the side of the road?” he questioned.
“Immediately say, this is not a situation where you have any right to try and claim any amount that is allegedly owing to the city.”
“You’ve got to say: ‘These are my rights’. The sad situation is that they might continue and lock you up and keep you overnight,” he added.
Tebogo Moraka, chief financial officer at the City of Johannesburg.
However, if this does happen, you have full recourse to sue the municipality and that particular law enforcement officer for unlawful arrest.
In a separate interview, eNCA spoke to Tebogo Moraka, chief financial officer at the City of Johannesburg, about the pilot roadblock on Saturday, 9 September 2023.
Moraka said the Johannesburg ombudsman and group legal were on-site for its duration.
“Those two particular departments were on-site to ensure we followed the law to the T,” he said.
“If you were there on Saturday, you would have seen that the JMPD only did their work in terms of licensing and the Aarto Act.”
“They did not perform any credit management processes,” Moraka added.
He said that while some residents chose not to speak to finance officials, his department engaged with a significant portion of motorists who went through the roadblock.
“Some residents chose not to speak to us [the financial department], and we did not force them to speak to any of our finance officials,” said Moraka.
“Out of the 750 cars that passed through that roadblock, 125 motorists actually chose to engage us.”
Asked whether motorists would be pressured into signing acknowledgements of debts or paying the outstanding bills, Moraka said the initiative is voluntary, and motorists can refuse to speak to Joburg finance officials.
“100%. At this point, we cannot force our residents to do that at any roadblock, but we encourage them to engage with us,” said Moraka.
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