GOOD Press Statement by Anton Louw,
GOOD Cape Town Councillor Responsible for Finance
13 July 2023
The GOOD party makes note of the comments made by Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Beverley van Reenen, to Eyewitness News.
The comments made are laughable and shows how out of touch the DA is with the daily realities faced by the city’s poor and middle-income households.
By her own admission the city would run a loss of R500-million if they implemented the proposed 15.1% hike.
What she fails to mention is the city is sitting with a surplus of just under R10-billion in the bank.
Municipalities must raise revenue in order to operate essential basic services, but
they do not need to run at a profit.
Van Reenen also makes reference to a court ruling about the methodology used by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa being unlawful. But once again she has omitted the facts.
The court gave Nersa until 2024 to change their method. Making their current methodology still lawful.
We maintain our call that Nersa must intervene and stop the City of Cape Town from placing a massive unnecessary mark-up on the price they charge consumers.
The city is also being disingenuous about the process in which they reached the 17.6% hike.
The original proposal by Nersa was for an 18.6% increase. At the time the city then reduced their increase to 17.6% and told Capetonians that the city in effect would subsidise the difference.
However, when Nersa released their final 15.1% increase, the City of Cape Town did not align their increase like most other municipalities.
This is a big blow to residents, especially poor and middle-income households.
Capetonians simply cannot afford the increase, it’s unfair, unaffordable and unjustified. Like the majority of South Africans, many Capetonians are struggling to make ends meet.
As the GOOD party we welcome Nersa’s acceptance of our complaint and hope that sanity will prevail.
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