Cape Town budget triggers fresh clash over household bills

Ratepayer groups say homes valued above R4m could see annual municipal bill increases of over 10% for the foreseeable future. Picture: iStock The City of Cape Town’s draft 2026/27 budget has triggered a sharp dispute, with officials insisting increases are broadly in line with inflation, while ratepayer groups warn that total municipal bills will rise “significantly higher than inflation” over the next three years. At issue is how the impact on households is measured – whether through individual tariff changes or the combined effect of property valuations, service charges and fixed fees.

Siseko Mbandezi, mayoral committee member for finance, said in response to questions from Moneyweb that increases for the 2026/27 financial year are “inflation-related (with the exception of Eskom’s increase)”. The Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association (CTCRA), representing 57 ratepayer associations, however argues that focusing on individual tariff lines understates the true impact on households. “If one adds the effect of the other charges (water, sanitation, city-wide cleaning), then a very different conclusion must be drawn,” it says.

The association, which joined the South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) late in 2025 to challenge the city’s property-value-based fixed water, sanitation, and cleaning tariffs, warns that recent property valuation increases and draft tariffs are (again) presenting ratepayers with increases “well above” inflation. In the current budget, the city has proposed a 10.2% reduction in the “rate-in-the-rand”, alongside an increase in the rates-free threshold to R500 000, now applicable to properties valued up to R8 million (previously R7 million). The measures are designed to cushion the impact of higher property valuations.

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Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said in his budget speech earlier that “around 60% of homes are set to get a property rates decrease or no change in rates at all”. However, the CTCRA says it accepts that the reduction “will bring some relief”, but argues that the overall picture is “misleading”. It adds that average freehold valuation increases are 26% across Cape Town. More than 400 000 – or 69% of freehold properties – have seen valuation increases of 11.3%, “which is where the rates will increase despite the rate-in-the-rand-decrease”.

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