Residents in municipalities across the country are bracing for proposed tariff increases in July, but metro residents are set to be hit even harder.

The KwaDukuza municipality has proposed higher-than-inflation increases across the board, although those hikes are overshadowed by neighbouring eThekwini Metro. It begs the question, how do KwaDukuza and eThekwini compare nationally?

For the first comparison, the Courier selected one local municipality from each province that was reasonably similar to KwaDukuza in either budget size or municipal offering. Data availability also influenced the municipalities chosen. While not exhaustive, the comparison provides a snapshot of proposed increases across the country.

KwaDukuza residents are facing proposed increases of 6% for property rates, 7% for refuse removal, 10% for electricity and 13% for water and sanitation. Water and sanitation tariffs are set by the iLembe District Municipality, which services most of the district.

A typical KwaDukuza homeowner can therefore expect average increases of about 9.8%, the second-highest among the municipalities compared, behind only Matjhabeng in the Free State at 11.9%.

The closest KZN municipality by budget size, Newcastle, is proposing an average increase of 5.6%. Other comparable municipalities include Stellenbosch in the Western Cape (6.8%) and Kouga in the Eastern Cape (6%).

iLembe’s proposed water and sanitation increases were particularly steep, ranking among the highest in the list.

For the second comparison, eThekwini was measured against South Africa’s seven other metros.
eThekwini, which includes the North Coast stretch from Umdloti to Westbrook, is proposing the highest average increases of any metro, with a combined increase of 11.3%.

The metro’s proposed water, sanitation and refuse increases are the highest among all metros nationally, while its electricity increase ranks third highest.