Indigent Awareness Campaign during February 2021
Indigent Awareness Campaign during February 2021
Caption: All people who qualify for indigent relief please follow the instructions to apply for this service as well as people who have been negatively impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The George Municipality Finance Directorate is currently conducting an Indigent Awareness Campaign to make needy households and especially people that were negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, aware of the indigent relieve assistance the organisation have available. Residents who cannot afford the basic services of the Municipality and qualify for the indigent relieve and households that have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic ,can inquire about financial relief at the finance hall at the municipality main building, area offices or the contact the numbers given.
Mr Henry Mitchell, Deputy Director: Financial Operations at the George Municipality said that the George Municipality`s foundation is grounded in social regeneration guided by the principles of Batho Pele, among other values. He said it is against this background that social packages form a key part of services rendered to our communities and the Indigent relief programme is part of these services. George Municipality is leading the way in making sure that it keeps improving on delivering much-needed services to its indigent communities.
The records from the Indigent Register as at 31 January 2021, reflects approximately 14 562 households that benefit from the indigent package offered, which is in line with the approved Indigent Policy for the current financial year 2020/2021. The indigent register was updated in 2020 to ensure that indigent and child-headed households are registered, and due to Covid-19 Pandemic further severely affected beneficiaries are expected to register for these benefits.
For this reason, the Credit Control Division is currently conducting an Indigent Awareness Campaign in George and surrounding areas of Uniondale and Haarlem to assist struggling individuals, people with special needs, pensioners, unemployed and more, so that they could continue to receive their basic municipal services. The indigent campaign will run from 01 February to 18 February 2021.
People who qualify are asked to please update their registration when any circumstances change and if the individual has not done so in the past three years. It is very important that the indigents office has the correct cellphone number and if it changes, to please let them know. Once an individual has registered as an indigent, the subsidy will be applied to the residents municipal account and electricity tokens uploaded to their prepaid number every month. All indigent households must pay for any extra water and electricity that are used that is not included in the support. Please take noet, if a house is worth more than R150 000, you will be billed for property tax.
You can apply for indigent support if you are the registered owner of the residential property or married to such an owner, if you are the occupier of the residential property or married to such an occupier (the main person living there). You can also apply if you are a backyard dweller or spouse of such a dweller (no more than two backyard structures on the property). You qualify for indigent if you are a pensioner (drawing a pension after retirement, a guardian of minors (one or more children under the age of 18), reside in a retirement centre or old age home or live in a centre for the disabled and/or physically challenged. Places of public worship in an indigent community and registered creches in such communities may also apply.
To qualify for the programme, you must be a South African citizen with a valid identification document, have a total household income of less than R4000 a month, be a registered owner, occupier or backyard dweller on a property used for residential purposes, must be a fulltime occupant (live there permanently) and not own more than one property. Centres or institutions where the disabled and/or physically challenged are being cared for, with more than 50% of the membership (disabled persons) registered as indigent or places of public worship, categorised as such on the municipality’s valuation roll, in a poor community with more than 50% of its congregation registered as indigent. If a creche is registered with the national Department of Social Development (DSD), Sassa and the municipality’s Community Development section, and with more than 50% of the membership (parents of registered children at the creche) registered as indigent it may qualify for indigent relieve.
To apply, you must please fill in an official form at the finance hall of the municipality main building (access from parking lot via Victoria or Progress Streets) or at a municipal area office in your community or email indigentsupport@george.gov.za or accounts@george.gov.za and ask for an indigent support application form, fill it in and send it back together with the below-mentioned documents or click to download the form, fill it in and send it back together with the below-mentioned documents to indigent@george.gov.za or accounts@george.gov.za
Applicants are asked to bring with them or submit the following documents, a copy of your ID document, if you earn a salary, bring a salary slip that is not older than three months, bank statements from the last three months, your municipal account or a prepaid electricity token from the place where you live. If you are unemployed, bring an affidavit (a stamped letter) stating that you are currently unemployed. If you receive a Sassa grant, bring a letter with from Sassa confirming your grant as well as your Sassa card.
The registered indigent subsidy in the George municipal area includes:
1.Urban residential properties: 6 kilolitres free water, 70kWh units free electricity, no charges for basic water, refuse removal and sewerage disposal, no rates and taxes of property valued below R150 000.
- Rural residential properties: 6 kilolitres water per month delivered to rainwater tanks of rural households in times of drought and 50kWh free electricity units dispensed by Eskom to households who are connected to the Eskom supply grid.
- Retirement centres and old age homes: indigent subsidy is credited to the monthly municipal account of the relevant property and will not exceed the total monthly municipal account.
- Places of worship in indigent areas: indigent subsidy is credited to the monthly municipal account of the relevant property and will not exceed the total monthly municipal account.
- Creches in indigent areas: indigent subsidy is credited to the monthly municipal account of the relevant property and will not exceed the total monthly municipal account.
- Centres or institutions for the disabled: indigent subsidy is credited to the monthly municipal account of the relevant property and will not exceed the total monthly municipal account.
Households not qualifying for Indigent Support because they earn more than R4000 per month or that do not qualify because of other criteria, can apply for a percentage rebate (discount) on property rates by downloading the form, filling it in and sending it to accounts@george.gov.za along with the above-mentioned documentation.
Rebates are determined annually as part of the budget process and updated in the annual tariffs list, and are usually 40% on property rates for a household income of R0-R7000 and 20% on property rates for household incomes of R7000-R8000.
For more information please contact Lydia Geja on 044 801 9362 or Heather Erasmus on 044 801 9184 or email indigentsupport@george.gov.za