GEORGE NEW - George Municipality will not be impacted by the Western Cape High Court's finding that three of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality's tariffs - the citywide cleaning tariff and basic water and sewerage tariffs - are invalid and unlawful.

The court issued its judgment on 30 April in favour of the South African Property Owners' Association (Sapoa), which had brought an application against these charges in July last year following their incorporation into the 2025/26 budget. 

Sapoa argued that the charges were inconsistent with the Constitution, national legislation and the city's own tariff by-law, as they had been calculated from property value bands established by the municipality.

The court suspended the order until 30 June to give the City of Cape Town the opportunity to rectify its tariff structure. The municipality's counter-application, namely to have parts of the Municipal Systems Act declared unconstitutional, was dismissed.

Responding to a query from the newspaper, George Municipality's CFO, Riaan du Plessis, confirmed that George does not have any similar tariff structures or proposals in place, therefore, the ruling has no application locally.

Sapoa's CEO, Neil Gopal, said in a statement that the association wants constructive engagement with the City of Cape Town to develop a lawful budget for the next financial year. 

Gopal was concerned that the city had previously indicated it might appeal to the constitutional court, if unsuccessful. He appealed to the city not to spend further taxpayer money on appeals and instead focus on producing a lawful 2026/27 budget.

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