GOOD Press Statement by Anton Louw,
GOOD Cape Town Councillor Responsible for Finance
24 July 2023
The GOOD Party calls on the DA-led City of Cape Town to recognise the desperate pleas of its residents and act with compassion.
In February the city announced a rates and taxes rebates for property owners in the 2023/24 financial year.
This formed part of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis’ measures to ease the pressure on households due to the rising cost of living.
A project the DA are extremely proud of, and on the surface, they should be.
However, these rebates have given very little actual relief to lower and middle-income households.
This year saw the implementation of the city’s General Valuation Roll 2022 (GV2022). It is used to determine the value of a property and then to calculate the rates liability for owners.
According to Siseko Mbandezi, the city’s mayoral committee member of finance,
“The accurate and fair market value is determined by comparable sales information around the valuation date”.
The problem that residents are facing is that property values in Cape Town have sky rocketed since the last evaluation in 2018.
According to Stats SA’s new property price index, Cape Town has seen a property boom. “Since 2010, residential property prices have grown by 141% in the City, outstripping any other metropolitan municipalities. After remaining relatively flat in 2018 and 2019, prices surged further.”
So although the rebate for properties valued under R5-million has increased to R435,000, property values have increased significantly, lowering the access to this relief.
The new property rates came into effect from 1 July 2023. At the exact same time the residents were hit by the staggering 17.6% electricity tariff increase.
But the same GV2022 report is also hampering residents access to the city’s electricity relief packages.
Owners of properties valued at, or below, R500,000 are allowed 60kWh free electricity, if it has a household consumption is less than 250kWh. And 25kWh free, if its consumption is greater than 250kWh but less than
450kWh.
For consumers falling in the category of “Lifeline Tariff” where prepaid meters are installed, and where the property is valued less than or equal to R500,000, there are significant savings.
But residents that would have previously qualified for this relief are literally left in the dark.
As the GOOD party we are concerned that the timelines for the objection to the GV2022 and the city’s budget were too short and overlapped.
The 2022 General Valuation roll objection period was from 21 February 2023 until 30 April 2023. And residents had a further 30 days to appeal an objection decision from the date you receive notice from the City
The CoCT public participation for the 2023/24 budget was from the 30 March 2023 up to 5 May 2023.
So at the time the city was asking for input on their electricity tariffs, residents may not have known their final property value.
And to add further confusion for residents, it was widely reported in the media in April that Nersa had approved a 15.1% electricity increase.
Good argues that a 29-day Public Participation period was not enough when all the facts were not clear to residents.
The GOOD party has already approached Nersa to intervene in the steep electricity tariff hike.
The regulator has confirmed to GOOD that “no licensee is empowered to charge a tariff that has not been approved by Nersa”. It will be conducting its own assessment and verification of the tariff currently being charged by the city.
As the residents of Cape Town, we continue to pay a premium for the privilege of having no electricity.
Media Enquiries:
Anton Louw, GOOD Cape Town Councillor Responsible for Finance
Cell: 082 377 3335
Email: anton@cisfs.co.za
Samantha Jackson, GOOD Acting Media Manager
Cell: 083 550 9875
Email: media@forgood.org.za