Rage over municipal tariff hikes

Durban and Johannesburg residents argue that proposed property rates and electricity and water tariff increases will cause an affordability crisis

- Lyse Comins

Durban and Johannesburg residents and property owners are fuming over proposed property rate, electricity, water and sanitation tariff hikes, saying they face an affordability crisis and that their cities' crumbling services delivery does not warrant the increases for the 2025-26 financial year.

Both the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) in Durban and the Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA) have filed formal objections to proposed increases in the eThekwini and Joburg metros, revealing a groundswell of frustration as households buckle under the high cost of living and a perceived lack of municipal accountability.

The ERPM is outraged by eThekwini municipality's draft budget for 2025-26, which proposes tariff increases of 6.5% for property rates, 12.72% for electricity, 15% for water, 13% for sanitation and 9.9% for refuse collection, when consumer inflation is at 2.8%, according to Statistics South Africa's data for April.

"We hereby register a formal and unequivocal objection to the proposed tariff increases outlined by the eThekwini municipality. In the context of a deepening affordability crisis, increasing resident debt and ongoing failures in service delivery, ERPM finds these proposed increases both indefensible and unsustainable," the movement's chairperson, Asad Gaffar, wrote in its objection letter.

He described ratepayers' grievances as encompassing an affordability crisis that leaves residents unable to meet existing service costs, escalating debt levels that risk locking households into prolonged financial hardship, service delivery failures marked by "contractor irregularities" and "questionable municipal spending" that eroded public trust.

"The municipality has not demonstrated how prior tariff revenues have been applied to deliver on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP). In the absence of financial transparency, any request for increased revenue is unacceptable," Gaffar wrote.