CTCRA supports SAPOA's legal challenge against City budget increases

The City of Cape Town Collective Ratepayers’ Association (CTCRA) has added its voice to the growing dispute over the City’s 2025/2026 budget, filing an additional affidavit in the high court case brought by the South African Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA).

In a statement issued this week, CTCRA chairperson Bas Zuidberg - who also chairs the Noordhoek Ratepayers’ Association - said sectional title owners are being unfairly penalised by the City’s decision to link fixed water, sewage, and city-wide cleaning charges to property values.

The CTCRA, which was officially constituted in August this year, has joined the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court).

Many of its members are sectional title owners, and according to Mr Zuidberg, they are facing steep increases in their monthly bills.

“Monthly charges for sectional title units have risen by 30% or more in some cases, while freehold properties of similar value are facing far smaller hikes,” Mr Zuidberg said in the statement.

The group argues that the system creates an unjustified imbalance.

Cluster developments of the same cumulative value but not sectionally titled have avoided such sharp increases, due to the way the City has structured its property valuation bands.

According to the statement, these discrepancies only became clear when residents began receiving their bills.

One of the CTCRA’s major concerns is that the City’s official rates calculator did not account for sectional title properties during the public participation process.

“This would have given sectional title owners the false impression that their increases would be in line with others, leading to their underrepresentation in the consultation process,” the statement said.

The association also raised legal concerns about how the tariffs were introduced.

It argues that fixed water and sewage charges should be linked to the actual cost of providing services, not to property values.

Sectional title owners, Mr Zuidberg said, already pay for infrastructure and billing through their body corporates, which reduces the City’s costs.

“Strictly speaking, owners in sectional title units should be paying lower fixed charges, since their developments reduce the City’s costs,” he said.

Another key issue flagged is the introduction of a separate city-wide cleaning tariff.

CTCRA believes this is unlawful and should instead be covered through property rates, which are charged on a progressive, linear basis.

“This approach would also remove the VAT that is currently being added to the cleaning tariff,” the statement said.

The association maintains that the City did not fully consider the consequences of linking tariffs to property values before introducing the system.

It believes its proposals would deliver a “fair and equitable solution” for all property owners, in line with the Municipal Systems Act.

Mr Zuidberg said the CTCRA would continue to press for fairer treatment of sectional title owners. “The increases we are seeing are excessive and unjustifiable. We want a system that charges property owners equitably and reflects the real costs of services,” he said.

SAPOA’s case against the City could have far-reaching implications for how municipal budgets are structured and how services are charged in the future.

The CTCRA says it is committed to ensuring that sectional title owners are not unfairly burdened in the process.