South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) members have expressed concern about matters that may affect the sustainability of their assets in South Africa and the association is making every effort to help its members tackle the various challenges they face, Sapoa president Ipeleng Mkhari says.

Speaking at a recent media event, in Johannesburg, she indicated that Sapoa members’ key concerns centred on the sustainability of their assets and investments in properties, especially in a difficult economy.

Members are particularly concerned about the high cost of electricity, which is set to rise even further when Eskom implements the tariff increases recently approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Moreover, load-shedding could further negatively impact on the sustainability of property owners’ assets.

Mkhari stated that load-shedding would not affect its bigger members in the short term, as they had prepared for such occurrences, but, in the long run, load-shedding would become a significant challenge for members.

Another cause for concern was increasing rates and taxes. Over a decade, rates and taxes had increased by nearly 10% a year, Sapoa CEO Neil Gopal pointed out.

Mkhari lamented that this created a relationship imbalance between the asset owners and their contribution to the fiscus.

She emphasised that, while these entities were eager to contribute to the fiscus, as it engendered working municipalities, which, in turn, ensured working cities, these rates and taxes needed to be reasonable to ensure these were sustainable for property owners.

To a lesser degree, there were also concerns about land expropriation. Mkhari noted that, while this presented many challenges, there were positive signs.

She stated that the “texture” of the conversation around land expropriation was starting to change, with participants more willing and less confrontational. She pointed to the recent land handover by Anglo American Platinum as an example, especially as Anglo was a big corporate willingly handing over land without coercion.

As part of measures to find solutions to the challenges facing its members, Sapoa was facilitating discussions with relevant stakeholders in the private and public sectors.

Meanwhile, Sapoa said, as a result of these concerns, its members were considering whether to retain assets in South Africa or to seek opportunities abroad that might offer a more profitable and viable option.