In its court application, SAPOA is asking for the city’s three tariffs in the budget, namely the Cleaning Tariff, the Fixed Water Charge, and the Fixed Sanitation Charge be declared unconstitutional and invalid. Seen are the city’s lawyers Advocate N Bawa SC (right), and Advocate N de Jager (left). The legal proceedings regarding the City of Cape Town’s fixed tariffs and their decision to link certain charges to property values intensified on Wednesday.
SAPOA and AfriForum challenged the City’s assertion of having “unconstrained power,” while the City put forward its counter-application. In a counter-application, the City argues that if the court rules in favour of AfriForum and SAPOA, it seeks to have Section 75A of the Systems Act declared unconstitutional and invalid, claiming it limits their ability to exercise full municipal powers and deliver essential services to residents. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) is the respondent in this case.
At the centre of the dispute, being heard by Judge President Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana, as well as presiding judges Judge Andre Le Grange and Judge Katharine Savage, SAPOA and AfriForum are challenging the City’s fixed tariffs and their decision to link certain fixed charges to property values. In its main application, SAPOA is asking for the three tariffs in the budget, namely the Cleaning Tariff, the Fixed Water Charge, and the Fixed Sanitation Charge, to be declared unconstitutional and invalid. The CoCT has maintained that its fixed charges are not rates but service charges.
Read Full Article on Cape Argus
[paywall]
The advocates for the City of Cape Town, SA Property Owners Association, AfriForum, GOOD, Cape Town Ratepayers Association, SA 1st Forum, and Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs were present in court. In response to the City’s claim from Tuesday that it has unconstrained powers, and that there are no restriction on what it can impose, AfriForum argued residents are in a great deal of trouble if the City’s argument of unfettered power is true. They also explained that the City’s argument doesn’t hold water as “one simply cannot divorce the powers of municipal powers from national legislation”. AfriForum had previously said they understand the City must raise revenue and deliver essential services, but that the “City must always act within its fiscal powers”.
[/paywall]
