01-05-2025
Petitions, statements and condemnation: Cape Town's draft budget controversy explained
As the deadline looms for public comment on the City of Cape Town's 2025/2026 draft budget, several questions have been raised over the proposed levies and increases. Daily Maverick explains what's going on.
With public participation closing on Friday, 2 May 2025, for the City of Cape Town's draft 2025/2026 budget, there has been an outcry from both political parties and civic organisations about the planned tariff increases.
At the same time, the City says this is an 'Invested in Hope' budget that serves as a balancing act between building a Cape Town of the future while protecting the most vulnerable residents.
The draft budget was initially tabled on 27 March for public participation. Initially, criticism was raised by the lobby group Stop Coct, which says it aims to promote accountability in the City's affairs.
Since then, public commentary and civic action has increased around the draft budget. Daily Maverick unpacks some of the contestation around it.
What is at the root of this issue?
The City proposed new charges, including fixed charges such as:
Electricity fixed charge of R339.89.
Water fixed charge linked to property value.
Sewerage fixed charge linked to property value.
City-wide cleaning charge linked to property value.
There was a property rates increase of 7.96%, which Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said was 'to cover the major growth in more policing resources for a safer Cape Town — accounting for a third of every rand paid in property rates — as well as the major infrastructure investments in roads and community amenities'.
This did not sit well with civic organisations and opposition parties.
Speaking to Daily Maverick on Wednesday morning, Michael Jacobs, the deputy chairperson of the Mitchell's Plain United Residents Association, said: 'We think that the the levy, on your property and your rent, is punitive and that it is illegal and the City should scrap all of these ideas that they've got and the fixed amount of electricity. Even if you're on prepaid that also needs to be scrapped.
'We are 100% not in favour of this budget,' he said.
Jacobs said the City was 'putting on extra levies when it comes to water, sanitation, and then they have the city-wide cleaning tariff, which we think is illegal, and we also see that they want to have this, all of these fixed charges linked to the value of your property.'
Mitchells Plain residents were not the only ones who raised objections. During ward outreaches, residential associations from Noordhoek also raised objections to the proposed levies, according to the False Bay Echo. The same was for Brackenfell, where Tygerberger reported on a fiery meeting about the budget.
What does the City of Cape Town say about it?
On 23 April, in a statement issued by the City, Hill-Lewis said analysis of the budget showed that 'even after the proposed 2025/26 increases are taken into account, Cape Town still offers the lowest total municipal bills of all major cities based on proposed rates and tariffs for properties under R5-million, along with the most functional services and largest infrastructure investment programme'.
'While Cape Town delivers value for money in a functional, working City, the exact opposite is happening in other metros where residents are paying more and more for broken services and collapsing infrastructure,' he said.
Writing in Daily Maverick on Wednesday, the mayor expanded on the City's plans, as well as addressing the concerns around the rate increases.
He said: 'While we have deliberately designed this budget to protect families in the R1-million to R2.5-million property value bracket, we recognise that it is also true that those living in more valuable properties are not necessarily well off.'
Enter the politicians and a call for an extension
Several political parties have entered the fray around the increases. During last week's Western Cape Legislature sitting, parties such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Coloured Congress raised several questions around the DA fighting the VAT hike while at the same time increasing rates and introducing levies.
In a Facebook Live message, Patriotic Alliance leader and Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie said he owned a home in Cape Town and told his followers: 'If they (the DA) care so much about the poor, why are they raising rates and taxes?'
Build One South Africa, which has no council seats, started a petition for residents to express their frustration over the rate increases.
After this week's blitz of interviews by the mayor, Anton Louw, a member of the Good party and city councillor, said the City of Cape Town should extend the public comment period.
On Wednesday morning, Louw said: 'In a last-ditch attempt to soften public backlash, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently announced that the City is 'looking at additional support to owners of properties up to R7-million'.'
He said Good urged residents not to be 'bamboozled by the City's creative budgeting, misleading PR spin, and phoney redistribution promises'.
He went further to say that the City was pretending to be a Robin Hood — 'wanting residents to believe the draft budget has the welfare of the poor at heart, but it is actually just spin camouflaging the fact that the City wants to charge ratepayers a new set of tariffs that dwarf inflation'.
He claimed that unlike Robin Hood, who robbed the rich to help the poor, 'the Cape Town budget fleeces both rich and working-class households without making meaningful improvements to services or expanding support for Cape Town's most vulnerable residents'.
What next?
'Following 2 May 2025, public comments will be considered and responded to, with the City's budget due to be considered for adoption by Council on 29 May,' the City has said. DM
