South Africans paying more for less

Every year, South Africans pay significantly more for basic municipal services while receiving increasingly less in return. 

Across the country, residents in major metros face above-inflation tariffs and rate increases. However, this has sparked public outrage.

Resident associations in major metros like Durban and Johannesburg have filed formal objections as frustrations over poor service delivery and lack of accountability reach a boiling point.

In Durban, the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) has strongly objected to the municipality’s proposed 2025/26 budget, which outlines double-digit increases across almost all essential services.

This is despite national consumer inflation being just 2.8% as of April, according to Statistics South Africa.

ERPM chairperson Asad Gaffar said these hikes are “indefensible and unsustainable” given a worsening affordability crisis, rising household debt, and ongoing service delivery failures. 

“The municipality has not demonstrated how prior tariff revenues have been applied to deliver on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP),” he said. 

He added that, in the absence of financial transparency, any request for increased revenue is unacceptable. 

“We will not accept continued financial burdens on residents without accountability, transparency, and meaningful reform,” Gaffar said.

The Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA) has echoed similar concerns in Johannesburg.

The JPOMA represents landlords for over 250,000 residents, primarily in inner-city affordable housing. 

It has formally objected to Johannesburg’s proposed increases, calling them economically unsustainable and in conflict with principles of affordability and equity.

Durban has proposed the highest increase in property rates at 12.9%, far outpacing Johannesburg’s 7.5% and Cape Town’s 7.9%. 

For electricity, Durban again leads with a 12.72% hike, followed by Johannesburg at 12.41%. 

Cape Town’s increase is a modest 2%, which is notably below Eskom’s national 11.32% increase for bulk municipal customers.

However, Cape Town residents are not spared the financial pressure. The city has introduced new tariff structures that disproportionately affect mid- to high-value properties. 

Water and sanitation tariffs are set to rise by 7.3% and 11.1% respectively. More controversially, new fixed charges based on property values will replace the current connection-size-based model. 

The city is also proposing a new city-wide cleaning levy linked to property value, replacing the previous model funded through property rates.

Shifting the financial burden onto residents

Despite these mounting charges, the quality of municipal services continues to decline. The Auditor-General’s 2024 audit of local government painted a bleak picture. 

Only 34 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities (13%) achieved clean audits. In many cases, infrastructure projects were found to be delayed, over budget, or of poor quality. 

In a sample of 75 projects visited by auditors, 72% had significant deficiencies. The report noted that newly built infrastructure was often left unused, and existing infrastructure was deteriorating due to neglect and inadequate maintenance.

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke stressed that little progress had been made in addressing these persistent failures. 

“Despite commitments made by roleplayers in the accountability ecosystem for improvement, action has been too slow and has had little impact on the lived realities of ordinary South Africans,” she said. 

Weak planning, mismanagement, and poor financial controls remain entrenched in local government.

Paul Berkowitz, director at Hlaziya Solutions, said municipalities resort to rate and tariff hikes to plug revenue gaps caused by broken systems. 

“I don’t think the increases are justified. There’s a history of financial mismanagement that stretches back years across most of the municipalities, including the eight major metropolitan municipalities,” he said. 

Berkowitz explained that instead of addressing structural inefficiencies, municipalities are shifting the financial burden onto residents. 

“Our company does a lot of work and research into municipal finance, and the municipal finances are a mess. 

“The debtors’ books are a mess. The creditors’ books are a mess. And the billing and collection system, especially in Johannesburg, has been a problem that’s gone unfixed for over 15 years.”

He noted that many of the above-inflation increases are being used to make up for money that was either not collected due to faulty systems or was misused. 

“A lot of the increases are really to make up for the revenue that municipalities are not collecting because the systems aren’t in order, or for money that is misspent or lost to corruption.”

Berkowitz also highlighted that municipalities have had to return billions of rands in unspent capital grants. 

“The issue isn’t just one of capacity. It’s also a case of mismanagement. Money is being wasted or not spent at all,” he said.

He added that South Africans are being asked to pay more while receiving less, with little explanation or accountability from those in charge.