The City of Cape Town maintains that it offers the lowest monthly municipal bills among South Africa’s major metros.
The City of Cape Town has defended its tariff structure and municipal billing, maintaining that it offers the lowest monthly municipal bills among South Africa’s major metros while providing superior service delivery and vital infrastructure investment.
This response follows warnings from the Cape Town Collective Ratepayers' Association (CTCRA) regarding an escalating rates affordability crisis. The umbrella body, which represents 45 ratepayer associations and approximately 100,000 residential properties, expressed concern that municipal bills face average annual increases of 10%, roughly triple the current inflation rate, making costs unsustainable for households and retirees on fixed incomes.
However, Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Alderman Siseko Mbandezi, pushed back against these concerns, stating that Cape Town remains the most affordable metro across all property value spectrums when compared to Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and eThekwini.
Mbandezi said that the municipality applies a significantly lower property rates formula (rate-in-rand) than its counterparts. For the 2026/27 financial year, Cape Town’s rate-in-rand stands at 0.007010, compared to Johannesburg (0.009889), Ekurhuleni (0.01195), Tshwane (0.01231), and eThekwini (0.015089).
