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The Freedom Front Plus believes that the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) that will come into effect at midnight on the 31st of March 2011 must be made applicable to all municipalities. For that reason the party is disappointed that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Rob Davies, exempted small and medium-sized municipalities from the operation of the CPA. According to Adv. Anton Alberts, FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson on Trade and Industry, it is clear that government is scared of a possible flood of complaints with regard to poor service delivery that will be lodged with the Consumer Commission. “The CPA’s implementation actually comes at an inconvenient time for the ANC as most of the complaints will come from municipalities controlled by the ANC. Now they are trying to mitigate the damage that might arise by ensuring that only the larger municipalities can be taken to task. However, it will not assist the ANC as the larger metro’s like Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, amongst others, are also controlled by the ANC,” Alberts said.

The FF Plus has therefore decided to assist residents of the larger municipalities in their complaints to the Consumer Commission. “The party will soon launch a client services website to assist residents in this regard,” Alberts further stated. “It is time that the taxpayer gets value for his or her money. If service is bad then the Consumer Commission must ensure that a lower tariff be payable. Where no services have been delivered, then no tariffs must be payable.” According to Alberts this is in line with the FF Plus’ philosophy of ‘no services no taxes’.