GOOD Statement by Anton Louw,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
01 October 2025
The GOOD Party supports initiatives that promote civic responsibility and community involvement, including efforts to tackle illegal dumping and keep Cape Town’s public spaces clean. However, the City of Cape Town’s annual #SpringCleanCT campaign is deeply disingenuous when viewed against the backdrop of its punitive “cleansing” tariff imposed from July 2025.
While residents are being urged to roll up their sleeves and clean parks, beaches, rivers, and roads, they are simultaneously being forced to pay for those same services through a regressive levy arbitrarily linked to property value rather than actual service usage. This is a slap in the face to Capetonians who already fund cleaning and waste services through their property rates.
GOOD has consistently opposed the cleansing tariff and has applied to join the December litigation against the City’s broader tariff scheme which we believe is illegal, unfair, and cloaked in misleading rhetoric about redistribution. The Local Government Municipal Systems Act requires municipal tariffs to reflect usage, not inflated property valuations driven by gentrification and speculation.
The #SpringCleanCT campaign merely exposes the cleaning levy for what it is, another creative tool to extract more revenue from residents under the guise of service delivery.
If the City truly wants to honour the spirit of #SpringCleanCT, it should begin by cleaning up its own budgetary practices, starting with scrapping the cleansing tariff and restoring public trust by ensuring that property rates are used transparently and equitably to fund core municipal services.
We urge residents to continue being proud custodians of their communities and to demand fairness, honesty, and legality from those entrusted with their money.
Media Enquiries: media@forgood.org.za