Municipal law and related municipal matters are what the firm of Len Dekker Attorneys specialise in. Normally we appear in disputes against a municipality. Seldom, such as in the case of the Rural Forum against the Thaba Chweu Municipality, do we appear on behalf of the municipality. Thaba Chweu Municipality includes rural areas such as Lydenburg in Mpumalanga.
The municipal property rates dispute in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) was levied on farm properties (as opposed to urban or residential properties) during an eight-year period from 1 July 2009 to 1 June 2017.
The factual background is briefly that prior to the advent of the new constitutional democracy in South Africa in 1994, farms in general were excluded from the rateable properties within the jurisdiction of municipalities. Consequently, the farm owners were not levied municipal rates for their properties. In establishing the local sphere of government, the new Constitution provides that “the local sphere of government consists of municipalities which must be established for the whole of the territory of the Republic”. As a result, every patch of land in
