The ruling by the Western Cape High Court declaring the City of Cape Town’s fixed tariffs for city-wide cleansing, water and sanitation in the 2025/26 budget unlawful and invalid confirms what the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has been saying all along.
The Court ordered that these tariffs be set aside with effect from 30 June 2026 and instructed the City to pay the legal costs of the applicants, including the South African Property Owners’ Association (Sapoa) and AfriForum.
The Freedom Front Plus strongly opposed the tariff structure from the outset, warning that linking fixed charges to property values is both unfair and unconstitutional.
Tariffs should be based on actual consumption and services rendered, not on the market value of a property. In effect, this system amounted to an additional property tax in disguise, which disproportionately penalised working- and middle-class residents who are already under financial strain due to rising costs.
The judgment demonstrates that the DA-led administration in Cape Town failed to strike an appropriate balance between revenue generation and the fair treatment of ratepayers.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep fighting for municipal tariffs to be fair and transparent, so that residents are not needlessly taxed.
The party calls on the City to fully comply with the Court’s ruling and to introduce, in the next budget, a fair and legally compliant tariff structure following the principle of consumption-based service delivery.
FF+ Manifesto on Skills development: Investing in skills development to improve the workforce.
Dewdrop Doll
Bonus: Southern USA: You have two cows. Their milkshake brings all the bulls to the yard, and they\’re like, it\’s better than yours. Damn right, it\’s better than yours; they can teach you, though there is a charge; but if you upvote, then you won\’t be charged!
Spunky Sphinx
Van der Merwe is approached by SANRAL one day who want to build a new highway through his donkey farm. Van is really concerned with how his donkeys can get from one side of the farm to the other without having to cross the highway and risk being injured or killed. He is promised that they will build bridges the highway so that his donkeys can cross under the highway. Van agrees and gives them the go-ahead.
The highway is built and a year later the same rep goes to the farm to go see how Van and his donkeys are. He eventually finds Van under one of these bridges chipping away at the roof of the tunnel with a hammer and chisel.
\”Mnr Van de Merwe, what are you doing damaging the highway bridge?\”