Ratepayers organisation for the people, by the people to keep politics out of local government
THE PLAN TO SAVE SOUTH-AFRICA
Alliances With IRASA
The Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA):
A Decade of Independent Representation
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Established in 2005, the Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA) emerged as a registered national political party with a distinctive mission: to shield local councillors from political party interference, thereby fostering direct accountability to the communities they serve.
Rooted in the principles of direct democracy, IRASA champions a model of governance where councillors are employees of the voters, funded by their rates and taxes, and committed to service delivery above partisan politics. This approach is enshrined in commitments made by their candidates, who pledge to engage in regular public consultation and vote in the best interests of their constituents.
Since its inception, IRASA has actively participated in South Africa’s municipal elections, notably in 2016 and 2021. The party has successfully gained representation in various municipalities, demonstrating the growing appeal of independent, community focused governance.
In a political landscape increasingly characterized by hung councils and coalition governments, IRASA’s presence has contributed to a shift away from dominant party politics.
Through its consistent focus on service delivery and councillor accountability, IRASA has carved out a significant niche, proving that a community-centric approach can achieve electoral success and challenge the established political order in South African local government.
The Key Benefits for Ratepayers
This partnership between IRASA, Mossel Bay Property Owners Association (MPOA), GR-First, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and MossRates delivers several direct and powerful benefits to the ratepayers and homeowners of Mossel Bay.
In essence, it shifts power from political parties to the community itself, ensuring better governance and service delivery.
Here is a summary of the key advantages:
Genuine Community Representation in Council
Instead of councillors who are loyal to a political party, this partnership ensures that elected representatives are chosen by the community, for the community. Councillors are selected based on their skills and commitment to local issues, meaning your voice is genuinely represented in the municipal council.
Politically Independent Councillors
By using IRASA as a platform, councillors are shielded from the influence and pressure of mainstream political parties.
This independence allows them to focus exclusively on the needs of the ratepayers who elected them, leading to more honest and accountable decision making.
Legal Power to Demand Service Delivery
Through the NTU, ratepayers gain access to a legally-tested system to hold the municipality accountable.
If the municipality fails to provide the services you pay for, you can:
Legally Dispute Your Rates:
Force the municipality to credit your account for services not rendered.
Take Direct Action:
If the municipality still fails to act, the community can hire its own contractors to perform the work (e.g., fix potholes) and legally charge the cost back to the municipality.
A Direct Say in How Your Money is Spent
Ultimately, this partnership gives you a powerful and structured way to influence how your rates are used. It provides a clear channel to ensure that your money is spent on the services and infrastructure that your community needs, leading to a better-managed and more prosperous Mossel Bay for everyone.
A Partnership for a Stronger Community:
Empowering Ratepayers in Mossel Bay
The Partners: Who They Are and What They Do
This partnership brings together six distinct organizations, each with a unique and vital role to play:
A powerful new partnership between Six organizations dedicated will ensure that the interests of ratepayers and homeowners in Mossel Bay are effectively represented in the Municipal Council.
This collaboration between MossRates, the Mossel Bay Property Owners Association (MPOA), the Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA), Garden Route First, Eden Movement, and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) creates a new model for local governance that is more accountable, transparent, and responsive to the needs of the community.
In simple terms, this partnership provides a way for ordinary citizens to have a real voice in how their town is run, ensuring that their rates are used to deliver the services they expect and deserve.
Mossel Bay Property Owners Association (MPOA)
The IRASA Model:
IRASA’s proposed Garden Route model uses a registered political platform to help community-focused candidates contest elections while remaining accountable to residents. It is intended to work within South Africa’s Constitution, municipal law, IEC rules and Council procedures, not replace them. GR First provides political coordination: candidate preparation, IEC compliance, campaigning, communication, training and support.
The model depends on active community involvement: residents set priorities, participate in forums, select representatives, monitor performance and demand transparent reporting.
Civic bodies support participation and accountability, while councillors retain responsibility for lawful municipal decisions and service-delivery oversight.
This alliance will include, but will not be limited to, the following:
- Advertising municipal election opportunities and vacancies that arise within the five-year local-government election cycle, using clear and accessible community communication channels.
- Maintaining an election-readiness calendar so that residents receive timely information about election dates, nomination periods, vacancies and official requirements.
- Encouraging suitable community candidates to stand as independent representatives, based on integrity, competence, commitment to service delivery and understanding of local issues.
- Hosting community information sessions and candidate forums so that residents can understand the councillor role, meet prospective candidates and raise local priorities.
- Providing compliance guidance by directing candidates to the relevant official election procedures, deadlines and eligibility requirements.
- Supporting independent councillors with legal advice when municipal, administrative, procedural, ethical or governance issues require professional assistance.
- Providing access to governance, policy and technical expertise to help councillors make informed decisions in the interests of the community.
- Protecting the independence of councillors by ensuring that legal or professional support is not used to instruct, pressure or control their votes or decisions.
- Requiring a Community Representation Pledge from candidates and councillors, committing them to ethical conduct, regular consultation, transparent reporting and community-first decision-making.
- Facilitating regular public engagement, including quarterly community or ward meetings where residents can raise service-delivery concerns and receive progress feedback.
- Keeping a transparent record of community matters, including service-delivery problems, action taken, responsible authorities, progress and outstanding issues.
- Publishing an annual constituency report that records key community concerns, actions taken, attendance, relevant decisions and progress achieved.
- Promoting conflict-of-interest declarations and ethical conduct so that municipal decisions are not influenced by private, political or financial interests.
- Ensuring councillors work for the community they serve, rather than for political parties, party leadership, donors, private interests or organisational office-bearers.
- Adopting a written memorandum of understanding between MPOA and IRASA that defines roles, financial controls, conflict-of-interest rules, complaints procedures and the limits of MPOA’s influence.
- Creating an independent community oversight mechanism to review compliance with the Community Representation Pledge and report annually to residents.
Key principle: Independent councillors must remain free to exercise their lawful judgement, but they must do so transparently, ethically and in response to the needs of the Mossel Bay community.
Garden Route First
GR First serves as the proposed political-coordination layer, mobilising community candidates and electoral participation while linking IRASA’s independent-representation model to municipal governance.
Key point
Role in the proposed model
Position
Your diagram places GR First at Level 6: Political Coordination, beneath the municipality level.
Political function
It provides the organised political channel for community-oriented candidates and election participation, rather than being the community, civic, watchdog, or municipal layer itself.
IRASA connection
IRASA describes itself as the registered political platform or “political shield” through which independent-minded councillors can contest elections while remaining accountable to communities.
Practical coordination
GR First’s stated support functions include campaign coordination, IEC-compliance support, community engagement, training, communications, and administrative support for councillors.
Accountability principle
The model’s stated purpose is to keep representatives focused on community interests and local service delivery, rather than traditional party pressure.
Watch Video: Can South-Africa be Saved through the IRASA model?
Mossrates
The Non-Political Watchdog over Governance
Peter Brauteseth: MossRates – Independent Ratepayer Association
MossRates is an independent Mossel Bay ratepayer association and is not affiliated with, partnered with, or part of IRASA or any political party.
MossRates does, however, support lawful initiatives that promote ratepayer-friendly, accountable and transparent local government, including greater community participation and the election of representatives who place the interests of residents and ratepayers at the centre of municipal decision-making.
Any reference to MossRates on this platform should not be interpreted as an endorsement of IRASA, participation in an IRASA electoral initiative, or involvement by MossRates in the recruitment or selection of IRASA candidates.
MossRates remains independent and will engage constructively with any civic organisation, independent representative or political party where doing so advances the legitimate interests of Mossel Bay ratepayers.
MossRates describes itself as a registered independent ratepayer association and says it exists to promote transparency, fairness and meaningful ratepayer participation
Eden Movement
Eden Movement seeks community-first, accountable local governance in South Africa by helping residents influence municipal reform, improve service delivery, protect infrastructure, and replace political interference with competent, responsive administration nationwide.
Goals
– Represents community views on municipal governance and local-government reform.
– Develops and submits policy proposals to address municipal-management failures.
– Explains government documents and residents’ rights in accessible language.
– Collects evidence of local service-delivery problems and pursues follow-up with authorities.
– Promotes accountable, decentralised decision-making and meaningful public participation.
– Focuses on essential municipal services, including water, sanitation, waste, roads, infrastructure, governance, and community participation.
The National Taxpayers Union
The Legal Powerhouse
The NTU provides the legal framework and expertise to hold the municipality accountable.
They have a proven system for disputing municipal rates and service charges when the municipality fails to deliver, giving the community a powerful tool to enforce their rights.
IRASA
The Political Shield
As a registered national political party, IRASA provides a platform for independent councillors to stand for election.
This shields them from the influence and pressures of traditional political parties, allowing them to remain focused on serving the community that elected them.
What the Partnership Achieves: A New Way Forward
This partnership creates a clear and achievable path for ratepayers to take back control of their local government. Here’s how it works in practice:
Finding and Electing True Community Representatives
For too long, municipal councils have been dominated by political parties, with councillors often more accountable to their party bosses than to the people who elected them.
This partnership changes that.
MossRates and MPOA will advertise 5-year councillor posts to the community, seeking out the most suitable and qualified candidates to represent the ratepayers.
This means that councillors will be chosen based on their skills, experience, and commitment to the community, not their political connections.
Ensuring Independent and Accountable Representation
Once elected, councillors need to be able to represent the interests of the community without fear of political interference. This is where IRASA comes in.
By standing for election under the IRASA banner, councillors are protected from the pressures and demands of traditional political parties.
This ensures that their loyalty remains with the ratepayers and homeowners who elected them, and that they can focus on delivering the results the community wants to see.
MossRates and MPOA will advertise 5-year councillor posts to the community, seeking out the most suitable and qualified candidates to represent the ratepayers.
This means that councillors will be chosen based on their skills, experience, and commitment to the community, not their political connections.
Holding the Municipality to Account with Legal Muscle
When the municipality fails to deliver the services that ratepayers are paying for, it can be difficult to know what to do. The NTU provides a powerful solution.
The NTU has a legally-tested system for disputing municipal rates when services are not delivered. This is based on the fact that many municipalities have illegally levied taxes by failing to follow the correct legal procedures.
When a dispute is declared, the municipality is legally required to credit the ratepayer’s account. If the municipality still fails to provide the service, the TPA (Tax Payers Association, the local arm of the NTU) can arrange for the work to be done and claim the cost back from the municipality.
This creates a powerful incentive for the municipality to deliver the services that ratepayers are paying for, and provides a practical way for the community to take action when they don’t.
The Big Picture:
A New Model for Local Governance
This partnership is about more than just fixing potholes or getting the streetlights working.
It’s about creating a new model for local governance that is more democratic, accountable, and responsive to the needs of the community.
By working together, MossRates, MPOA, IRASA, and the NTU are empowering ratepayers to take back control of their local government and build a stronger, more prosperous community for all.
