Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis slams Cape Town's wealthy property owners

The South African

18-07-2025

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has launched a strong defence of the city's newly implemented municipal charge reforms, following a legal challenge by the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), which represents some of the country's wealthiest commercial real estate stakeholders.
SAPOA has taken the City of Cape Town to the High Court, seeking a review of a key feature in the City's 2025/26 'Invested in Hope' budget: the decision to link fixed municipal service charges – such as for water and electricity infrastructure – to property value rather than applying flat rates across the board.
Hill-Lewis has criticised SAPOA's position, stating that its objection to the new charge model is an attempt by large-scale property owners to avoid paying their fair share.
'They argue that the biggest property owners should pay the same as low-income families. That is simply regressive and patently unfair,' said Hill-Lewis.
The mayor emphasised that the policy change was designed to protect lower-income households, particularly homes valued below R2.5 million, while ensuring that higher-value properties contribute more equitably to maintaining the city's public infrastructure.
The city scrapped its old 'pipe levy' model, which based charges on the size of a property's water connection – a system Hill-Lewis said unfairly charged small homes and luxury mansions the same fixed fees.
'Our new model aligns charges with the value of the property, which is a more accurate reflection of a household's or business's ability to pay,' he said.
The change supports Cape Town's planned R40 billion infrastructure investment over the next three years, which the city says is necessary to maintain and expand vital services across all communities.
SAPOA argues that the policy is legally questionable and will place undue pressure on commercial property owners and investors.
The association is seeking a court ruling to overturn the implementation of the value-based charge system.
However, Hill-Lewis dismissed SAPOA's court bid as an attempt to 'go back to a system where ordinary families subsidise the wealthiest portfolio holders in the country.'
The mayor also defended the principle of cross-subsidisation, stating that all residents – especially those with the financial means – have a responsibility to support equitable infrastructure development.
'Even households with solar panels or boreholes rely on the City's infrastructure in emergencies. Fixed infrastructure costs exist whether people consume services or not.'
He explained that a flat charge, as SAPOA prefers, would disproportionately affect poorer households, taking up a much larger percentage of their income compared to wealthier residents.
Hill-Lewis said the city had consulted with SAPOA and other stakeholders throughout the budgeting process. While SAPOA acknowledged the city's infrastructure needs, it failed to offer any workable alternative to the current approach.
The city maintains that linking charges to property values is both legally sound and socially responsible, and plans to defend the policy in court.
'Cape Town must remain a city of hope,' Hill-Lewis concluded.
'To do that, everyone must contribute fairly to the systems that serve us all.'
The High Court is expected to hear the matter in the coming weeks.
If SAPOA succeeds, the ruling could set a precedent for how municipalities across South Africa structure their service charges in the future.
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