Author:
Sandra Dickson
30 April 2025
WITH REFERENCE TO THE LETTER WRITTEN BY GEORDIN HILL-LEWIS AND PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY MAVERICK
29 APRIL 2025. This letter is an attempt by the Mayor to communicate “changes” to the 2025-26 City of Cape Town Draft Budget. This letter does NOT address the Public outcry over the massive increases this Budget will bring about to the bills households will receive from 1 July 2025.
The Mayor is urged to extend the Comment period which is ending on 2 May 2025.
I’ve read the Mayor’s letter on the 2025–2026 Cape Town budget, and frankly, it’s a masterclass in dodging responsibility and burying inconvenient truths. The letter drags on endlessly, full of vague justifications and political spin, but fails to provide clear, honest answers to the REAL concerns residents have raised.
The Mayor does not recognise the MULTIPLES of the inflation rate (4.5%), bills are increasing by. This increase is mostly the result of the 4 Fixed Charges. The overall increase in municipal bills are 9 – 30% as a result of the proposed Draft Budget.
Here’s what’s actually being offered:
1. A vague mention of the “softening” of the Cleaning Tariff (Tax) cross-subsidisation-with no concrete numbers or real indication of how much relief this will bring. This CLEANING CHARGE should be taken back to the drawing board and removed from this Budget in its entirety.
2. An extension of the rates rebate from properties under R5 million to those up to R7 million, cutting the effect on bills by about R250 a month for some homeowners is a paltry concession compared to the overall massive hikes of up to 30%.
3. An increase in the pensioner rebate income threshold from R22,000 to R27,000 monthly, allowing more pensioners to qualify, but with no clarity on how meaningful this relief will be. Nor any qualifying criteria is given.
4. All four fixed charges-electricity, water, sanitation, and cleaning, remain fully intact and are explicitly linked to property values rather than actual consumption. No attention is given to the requirement in law that these Fixed Charges have to be proportional to the City’s actual Fixed Costs. This forces residents to potentially pay thumb sucked inflated fixed fees simply because their property values have skyrocketed, regardless of usage.
These “reliefs” are token gestures designed to placate public outrage while leaving the real problems untouched.
The letter offers no serious solutions, no alternatives, and no real empathy for the financial burden placed on middle-income homeowners and pensioners struggling to keep up.
Most egregiously, the letter ignores the fundamentally unfair system of charging fixed fees based on property values which the City determines and control.
This approach punishes those who have made genuine efforts to reduce consumption by installing solar panels and water-saving devices. This mean nothing when your bill is dictated by your home’s market price. It disproportionately hurts those in rapidly appreciating areas who may be asset-rich but cash-poor, with no consideration for their ability to pay.
Instead of confronting this injustice head-on, the Mayor’s letter buries it under a mountain of excuses and empty rhetoric. There is no transparency, no accountability, and certainly no meaningful relief.
In short, this letter is a disgraceful evasion of responsibility. It offers minimal and inadequate concessions while ignoring the biggest and most damaging issues which is the 9 – 30% increase in total municipal bills as a result of the 38% increase in the Electricity Fixed Charge and the 3 NEW Fixed Charges to be imposed.
Cape Town residents deserve far better than this half-hearted, evasive response masquerading as “leadership”.
Sandra Dickson
STOP COCT