Ratepayers express concerns over eThekwini's double-digit tariff hikes

Ratepayers in the eThekwini Municipality have voiced their concern over double-digit increases in tariffs and how their money is spent in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) budgets for 2025 and 2026.

The City’s 2025/26 draft IDP/Budget consultations themed, Infrastructure Building and Service Delivery Budget, began with the business sector and ratepayers associations on Tuesday. The engagements will conclude on 14 May and after considering all inputs, the draft IDP/Budget will be adopted on 22 May.

The R71.3 billion draft budget comprises an operating budget of R64.2 billion and a capital budget of R7.1 billion. The IDP is the key strategy that guides development and service delivery in the City. The plan gives an indication of the goals and initiatives the municipality will focus on over the next five years. eThekwini Mayor, councillor Cyril Xaba, said that the consultations are critical to ensure that residents own their municipality.

“This is your city. We take all inputs very seriously. You have the ability to shape the future of eThekwini.”

Some of the major highlights of the draft 2025/26 draft budget are significant amounts being allocated to take care of essential services. About R859 million has been allocated for electricity and this will fund the ongoing extension and reinforcement of existing electricity networks, as well as 17 new substations that are being commissioned.

The capital budget for water is R1.15 billion and will be spent mainly on the water loss intervention programme and the replacement of water pipes.  Proposed tariff increases for electricity are 12.72%, water 15% for domestic customers and 16% for business. Sanitation is 13% for domestic and 14% for business, refuse removal is 9.9% for domestic and 9% for business. For property rates, the proposed tariff increase is 6.5%.

eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) chairperson Asad Gaffar said there is a definite sense that mayor Xaba is a much stronger leader than what the city had previously been subjected to. Gaffar said that Xaba has inherited a trust deficit that will be difficult to conquer. Gaffar said the new budget is hitting the ratepayers for an additional R6 billion at a time when service delivery is at an all time low.

“Extended water and electricity outages have left the ratepayers of our city beyond frustrated. Many of our ratepayers have left this city because it’s failed them. There are critical projects not yet funded and yet there are parties and music events peppered into the budget to the tune of over R30 million,” Gaffar said.

Gaffar said that the tariff increases are beyond the household budgets and people are going to be defaulting on their bills.

"With the current tariffs, people are working to pay the municipality. They have no disposable income for property maintenance, school uniforms, car services, tyres, etc. We are slaves to our municipal bills. It’s not sustainable,” Gaffar said.

Gaffar said the city administration must prove that it is spending ratepayers money for its purpose and start delivering on its core mandates. Gaffar said that the city should prove that it can operate last year’s budget without any fruitless and wasteful expenditure before they come to ratepayers demanding more.

“Our rates should be dropped. We pay more than anywhere else in the country on property rates and have to live with polluted rivers, potholed roads, ornamental street lights, broken pavements, overgrown verges, dry taps, power failures, dysfunctional call centres and agents. The list goes on,” Gaffar said.

eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) chairperson Ish Prahladh said the people cannot accept double-digit increases considering the high unemployment rate in the communities.

Prahladh urged the municipality to look at other ways to get revenue beside tariff increases. Prahladh was concerned about the housing crises, the budgets allocated to them and the growing number of informal settlements in eThekwini.

“Not a single house has been built to clear out the shacks from our community. I do not see the budget going anywhere. The entrance to Reservoirs Hills, one of the ratepaying contributors, is in a deplorable state. The place has become a dump. The ratepayers are paying to clean up the area around informal settlements. There is a water pipe exposed from 2022,” Prahladh said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za