GOOD Statement by Roscoe Palm, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor; Energy Portfolio Committee Member:
The GOOD Party notes with concern the City of Cape Town’s public condemnation of Eskom and NERSA over electricity tariff increases, while continuing to impose its own unaffordable and often opaque charges on residents.
While the City accuses national entities of excessive margins and rubber-stamping tariff hikes, Cape Town residents, particularly the working-class households, are being subjected to rising municipal electricity charges, inflated service tariffs, and aggressive credit control measures that mirror the very conduct the City claims to oppose.
The City has recovered hundreds of millions of rands from residents yet continues to sit on these surpluses instead of providing relief, refunds, or meaningful offsets to households under financial strain. One cannot condemn Eskom for excessive margins while quietly benefiting from over-collection at the municipal level.
Equally troubling is the City’s harsh credit control regime, which routinely holds residents liable for historical, disputed, or incorrectly allocated debt. Residents are trapped in rigid bureaucratic processes, punished for administrative failures not of their making. This approach undermines fairness, due process, and the City’s constitutional obligation to provide services in a manner that is equitable and just.
For years, the City has implemented refuse, cleaning, and other service charges without the level of transparency, independent regulation, or oversight it now demands from NERSA.
Accountability cannot be selective, and fairness cannot apply only when it is politically convenient.
If the DA-run City is serious about protecting residents from rising costs, it must start by leading through action at the local level. This includes reducing inflated municipal tariffs, refunding or offsetting over-recovered funds, and urgently reforming credit control policies that unfairly penalise residents.
The City cannot act as a champion of ratepayers nationally while governing with a profits-over-people mindset locally. Leadership requires consistency, integrity, and accountability, especially when residents are struggling to keep their lights on.
GOOD Manifesto on GOOD Governance: Upholding principles of GOOD governance.
Santas Little Helper
Brazil: You have two cows. But not for long, because one shoots the other dead.
Hermopolis
South Africa: You have two cows. The one with more white patches has more privileges.