Dark clouds gather over Cape Town homeowners

Plans by the authorities in Cape Town, South Africa’s second-biggest city and main tourism hub, to raise municipal levies by as much as 30% from July have sparked a public outcry ahead of next year’s local government elections. 

City Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis argues that the increases, which link water and electricity charges to property valuations, are necessary to fund repairs of old water and sewage pipelines and build new ones, and to pay for more than 500 additional security officers and cleaning services. 

He says those who have the ability to pay should subsidise those who don’t.

“The water system in Cape Town is creaking, the sewer system in Cape Town is creaking even more,” he said in an interview with Cape Talk radio station. “It requires multibillion rand investments. These projects are not cheap.”

The city’s revenue-raising proposals have encountered widespread opposition among homeowners, with more than 10,000 signing online petitions calling for levies to be raised in line with the inflation rate, which currently stands at less than 3%. 

Many residents “simply cannot afford these continual hikes, especially those living in properties valued above R2 million,” one of the petitions reads.

“Homeowners with a single income or retirees earning more than R20,000 per month may face losing their homes.”

The standoff threatens to erode support for the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest political party, which has governed Cape Town since 2006 and joined the country’s 10-party coalition government after last year’s national elections failed to produce an outright winner.  

“As an elected mayor, that is always part of the calculation, but not to the extent where I am going to allow an irresponsible decision for the future of the city that puts at risk the success that we have built here,” said Hill-Lewis, who was appointed mayor in November 2021 and has been touted as a possible future leader of the DA.   

Cape Town ranks as the best-run of South Africa’s eight main municipalities, and millions of visitors flock to the city each year, attracted by its sandy beaches, iconic flat-topped Table Mountain and picturesque winelands.