Social justice group slams City of Cape Town's tariff structure

The social justice group, Stop City of Cape Town, said the municipality had shown a lack of compassion towards its residents.  

This follows a full bench court ruling that struck down the city’s tariff structure, which unlawfully charged for water, sanitation, and city-wide cleaning based on property value.

Founder Sandra Dickson accused the municipality of acting as though it were separate from the residents who fund its budget. 

She added that the tariff system had placed an additional burden on residents, with value-added tax (VAT) also applied to these charges.  

Dickson said: "The court refers to the city's irrational fiscal characterisation to treat consumptive charges as fees, which now also attract VAT. Taking some of those charges out of the property rates, which do not attract rates into fixed charges, we are also paying more just because of VAT".  

She further stated that the city’s budget had ballooned to fund new projects without consulting residents. 

Dickson accused the municipality of treating billions of rand as insignificant.  

"The city has become a 'big daddy' that also decides for us what needs to be done. You need a MyCiTi bus project, but nowhere was anybody ever asked whether they wanted it.

"And the city is spending over the years R7 billion on that. The capital budget of the city doubled, and the city just throws around billions as if it's small change," she said.