- Title
- Investigating ways to limit wasteful expenditure due to punitive property taxes on Gauteng hospitals
- Creator
- Molotsi, Obed Lucas
- Subject
- Real property tax -- South Africa -- Gauteng
- Subject
- Real property -- Valuation -- South Africa -- Gauteng
- Subject
- Finance, Public -- Law and legislation -- South Africa -- Gauteng
- Subject
- Financial management
- Date Issued
- 2024-04
- Date
- 2024-04
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/64705
- Identifier
- vital:73863
- Description
- The PFMA defines fruitless and wasteful expenditure as an expenditure made in vain, and it states that had reasonable care been exercised, such expenditure would and should have been avoided. Among the various forms of wasteful expenditure, the AGSA (AG, 2021) report lists the payment of penalties, or of interest accruing because of late or non-payments, and debt incurred. These expenditures are prevalent in social cluster infrastructure projects, and the waste is attributed to poor planning, weak internal control measures, and lack of oversight on contracts. The Local Municipal Property Act 6 of 2004 (SA Government, 2004) empowers municipalities to develop a land administration process to enforce compliance with land use management schemes, which often is referred to as the steps to be taken to avoid the illegal use of land. The illegal use of land arises when a property owner fails to comply with the provisions of the land scheme, and when the land owner fails to comply with the requirements set out in notices issued in terms of the land use scheme. Illegal land uses arise when property exchanges hands between government departments (vesting), resulting in a change of use. This then leads to a failure by the property owner to update the conditions and property information that should have been in line with the changes enacted in the land use schemes in the asset register. The objective of this research was to investigate ways and the process the Provincial Government of Gauteng should put in place to limit wasteful expenditure and the payment of administrative penalties, or mounting property taxes based on the punitive tariff as the result of engaging in illegal land use. Such illegal land use occurred because the new property owner failed to update the property information and conditions. Based on the data collected through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires administered to a sample completed by the study’s participants, and the secondary research process that included the review of official policy documents, qualitative, and quantitative analysis were performed to achieve important findings of this study. Zoning applies to land with cadastral boundaries, implying that zoning is only applicable to surveyed land. Zones are depicted on the zone scheme maps, and these have the aim to inform land owners of potential development rights that are stipulated in the land use management schemes. Zoning forms the basis for property valuations and property tax (rates) calculation purposes. The other factor used in the calculation of the rate is the value of the rateable properties registered in the valuation roll. Every five years, a new valuation roll is published for review before the adoption by the various municipalities’ councils. The setting of tariffs is informed by the budget requirements of the municipalities to enable them to finance or deliver municipal services. The tariff scales are determined in line with the land use categories. Municipalities publish the tariffs yearly, after the adoption of the budget by the municipalities’ councils. The remedies available to municipalities is levying a punitive rate to try to change the owner’s land use and move it from unauthorised/illegal use of the land outside the category of use to an updated, legal use. The research findings indicate that the Gauteng Provincial Government’s relevant department lacks the necessary structures and processes to monitor changes in the bylaws or land use schemes of municipalities, and the payment of property rates does not hold any strategic importance in the management of properties. The department did not have a system or process in place to review the valuation roll, or to monitor the annual tariff rate adjustments. Therefore, the present research recommends several measures the department will have to implement to limit wasteful and fruitless expenditure regarding property rate payments.
- Description
- Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology, School of Built Environment and Civil Engineering, 2024
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (XXX pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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