A Cape Town action group called Stop CoCT is pleading with the public to have their say on the proposed drought water tariff. The City of Cape Town has tabled a proposal to charge property owners with a drought levy to fund the income shortfall in order to facilitate water saving plans. The city has opened a public participation process for residents to comment. Opposition parties such as the African National Congress and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) have since objected the drought levy.
Stop CoCT founder, Sandra Dickson, explains that Stop CoCT is a Facebook group that was started on December 3, 2017, with the purpose of participating in the public participation process afforded by the City of Cape Town.
She says the group is encouraging public participation on an issue that after legislation is passed will be an expensive process to overturn.
Residents now have “legal window” in which they can engage.
“Normally, we get a bill at the end of the month and we see there is a [charge] on the bill. Then residents are up in arms [and] want to fight it and overturn it. But, then they find to their horror that once any piece of legislation, tariff decision or decision taken by the City of Cape Town has been put into law, residents can basically do nothing about it.
Describing City officials as having been ‘asleep’, she says the recent move by the city was a means to collect interest-free funds from residents.
Dickson says the City’s R55 billion budget, of which 40 per cent is allocated to the upliftment of the poor, should be reworked to facilitate water security in the City.
Secondly, she says the City can sell municipal and water bonds.
Dickson says the desalination plants and the draining of the aquifers are not viable long-term solutions to ensure water security within the city.
“That is an effective way of raising long term capital. What they are doing now is putting a ban aid on a huge problem for the next 20 to 30 years.
“They have already sold R2 billion worth of green bonds, where is that money [and] why can’t that be used? They sold Maidens Cove in Camps Bay, they got a R1 billion for that, where is that money being used? ”
She further questions the use of the Department of Water and Sanitations’ R1.6 billion that is allocated for annual expenditure and R6.8 billion for operational expenditure.
For more information and to comment on the matter, visit dearcapetown.co.za. The closing date for comments is January 12, 2018.
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7 comments
Peoples rates and taxes should be based on the purchase price of the house. When the house is resold then the rates and taxes can be readjusted to that value.
WE CANNOT CARRY ON BEING TAXED OUT OF OUR OWN PROPERTIES. why should I subsidise 1 million Zimbabweans or Congolese that have moved here
There was also no mention of water usage on the proportions used by business industries or Residences
Rates and taxes ARE based on the municipal valuation of your property which is usually lower than market value. I personally find the idea that i must pay based on the value of my home(which council made no contribution too) rather than the value of service i receive or the size of my plot to be highly unfair. Why should it matter what your house is worth, it should be about how much land you occupy and the services associated with that land.
Cctc I note have no vision, seeing this is not something that just happed.
As most people I have spoked to , their reply is that the levy is so simple
the people in powerr take the easiest route in order to raise funds.Now
w2hy did we the citizens of the WC save ?
I’m pensioner n unable to make ends meet how will it be possible to pay the levies if we don’t even have enough moni to see to our daily needs
Waarom moet ons gestraf word omdat ons water spaar????? Onregverdig om dit aan jou huiswaardasie te koppel. Wetstoepassers moet die gebruikers wat water in oormaat gebruik beboet – met stewige boetes en hulle dan dophou. Straf die skuldiges nie die wat bespaar nie.
Why must we pay drought levy… It’s really UNFAIR
This water shortage was predicted many years ago! Water affairs reported this to the National Government! National government is responsible to supply water to all municipalities. So the WP has been neglected by Government….. smells of Politics! COCT needs to proceed with options to help its residents but simultaneously sue National Government to refund ALL expenses + interest. Then the levy can be “switched” too a short term loan which COCT can refund to the ratepayers, also with interest.