Big battle over Cape Town property taxes

A court will from today hear a case in which the South African Property Owners Association is challenging the City of Cape Town’s tariffs on buildings for the year through June 2026. 

Sapoa has “serious legal concerns” with the budget, including the introduction of a city-wide cleaning tariff, a new basic fixed sanitation charged linked to property values, and changing the fixed water charge to one linked to property values, it said in an emailed statement.

Sapoa has asked the court to set the tariffs aside.

Property prices in the Atlantic Ocean city have climbed 160% since 2010, outpacing growth in the country’s other metropolitan areas, according to Statistics South Africa.

Values in Johannesburg — Africa’s richest city — have risen by less than half of that over the same period. 

The city delayed implementing tariffs for business and commercial properties until July 1, 2026, but they are already applicable for vacant and residential ones.

The Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association and the South Africa First Forum have both been admitted as friends of the court on the case, while the Good Party has applied to be admitted as an intervening party.

Afriforum, a White Afrikaner rights group, has launched a separate application, that will be heard simultaneously with Sapoa’s, the property organization said.