eThekwini's rates base shrinking

Ratepayer organisations sound the alarm as fewer residents are increasingly supporting the city’s rising costs

- WENDY JASSON DA COSTA and ZAINUL DAWOOD

A SHRINKING pool of ratepayers is carrying the financial burden of eThekwini’s growing population, with ratepayer groups warning that the city’s revenue model is heading towards breaking point.

Just 556 000 rateable properties are effectively funding services for the city’s 4.5 million residents, sparking warnings that the city’s finances are increasingly becoming unsustainable.

Rose Cortes of the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement said the burden on paying households was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.

“The small base of compliant paying households is becoming smaller. Not because of delinquency, but because the system is not sustainable,” she said.

Cortes argued that annual double-digit tariff increases, often well above inflation, were placing growing pressure on residents already struggling with the escalating cost of living.

“Pensioners have to choose between food, medication or electricity. They can’t afford all three essentials,” she said.