Petition launched to oppose Tshwane’s cleaning levy

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has launched a petition to oppose the metro’s attempts to reinstate the so-called cleansing levy, which has been a burden to residents.

According to VF Plus councillor Dehan Harmse, the party strongly objects to the metro’s plan to approach the Court of Appeal to retain the right to bill residents for the levy.

On July 31, in a case brought by AfriForum, the Pretoria High Court ruled the levy unlawful, invalid, and void.

“The ruling stated that the metro had failed to meet the requirements of Section 229 of the Constitution or Section 74 of the Municipal Systems Act,” Harmse explained.

He added that the court found that the levy amounted to unlawful double taxation, particularly for residents of complexes and estates who already pay for private waste removal services.

“The court ordered that all accounts be credited with the levy amount in the next billing cycle, and that the metro implement this by September,” Harmse said.

The VF Plus says despite this, the metro has ignored the ruling and continues to charge the levy on residents’ accounts.

“On August 25, the court dismissed the metro’s request for leave to appeal with costs. The metro now intends to approach the Court of Appeal, a step that will see more tax money, which should rather be used for essential service delivery, squandered on senseless legal proceedings,” he explained.

He stated that the VF Plus opposed the levy from the outset and it was one of the reasons why the party voted against the 2025/26 budget.

“In addition, the VF Plus submitted a motion to hold the MMC for Finance, Obakeng Ramabodu, personally liable for the relevant legal costs.”

According to Harmse, it is unacceptable to have taxpayers shelling out to cover the metro’s legal costs relating to cases that have already been decided and are highly unlikely to succeed.

“The party implores the metro to raise the white flag, respect the court rulings, and stop wasting public funds.”

He added that it is an absolute disgrace that the metro wants to use residents’ tax money to defend an unlawful levy which will be to their detriment and has already been rejected by the court.

In the petition the VF Plus stated it has noted that a growing number of complexes are being billed up to four times, for a single dustbin service.

It said this is despite the fact that bodies corporate are already separately billed R223.53 / R388.74 per bin on their body corporate accounts. Where residents already pay this levy on their body corporate account as part of their complex levies, individual residents are now also being charged again on their personal metro accounts.

Even though AfriForum has won a court ruling against such charges, it noted that the metro continues to bill residents, effectively obstructing justice by defying a court order.

Harmse concluded by saying: “If you have been billed more than once for a dustbin (R223.53 or R388.74) on your municipal account, please contact the VF Plus so we can assist you in addressing this matter”.

DA caucus leader Cilliers Brink said his party is fighting the expansion of the cleansing levy.

“Despite the cleansing levy being declared illegal by the courts, Tshwane has now expanded its reach by billing sectional title property owners across the city for city cleansing, even when they are utilising the city’s waste removal services and pay for this service on their body corporate’s account,” Brink explained.

He said when the city cleansing levy was first tabled in the draft budget in council, the DA raised strong objections because it was not clear on which properties the city planned to charge this levy.

“We maintained that the levy is nothing more than an attempt for the city to use residents as cash cows and tax the itself out of financial difficulty.”

Brink stressed that as residents of sectional title properties started receiving their September bills, an amount of R223.53 for ‘waste management’ and R447.06 for ‘miscellaneous charges’ appeared on their bills.

“When querying this, residents received the answer that this is for city cleansing. These residents are now clearly being double taxed for waste removal, once on their body corporate’s account and once on their own account.”

He added that all residents of sectional titles who have received this levy on their bills must officially dispute this charge with the metro.

“It is not clear if the city’s billing department is in complete disarray, and there is no handle on which properties use the city’s waste removal, or of it was the ANC’s plan from the start to double bill sectional title properties in an attempt to balance the city’s books by double taxation.

“What is clear is that the ANC coalition government does not care about the impact of high bills on residents who are already financially stretched.”

According to Brink, DA councillors are making an inventory of complexes with a waste management account from the metro where residents are also being billed a city cleansing levy.

“We will submit these particulars to the city manager and the chief financial officer for the double billing to be reversed.”

Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the metro had identified an anomaly while configuring the billing system for implementation of the new city cleansing tariff.

The city’s cleansing tariff, which was introduced on July 1, applies to properties not using the city’s waste collection services, for example, estates or complexes that use private service providers through their body corporates.

“During the configuration period, the city realised that the system led to some residents in estates/ complexes, who already receive municipal waste collection, to be incorrectly charged the cleansing tariff. The city is now attending to these cases and will correct all affected accounts,” he explained.

Mashigo said to assist with a quick resolution, body corporates are requested to log queries with the city via email, providing a list of municipal account numbers of the affected properties.

Residents can sign the petition on the this link: https://forms.gle/oXyASZ6JRq5zTPvL

ALSO READ:

•  Residents cry foul, slam metro for defying court order on unlawful cleansing levy
• Court dismisses Tshwane metro’s appeal bid on city cleansing levy
• Court battle looms as metro moves to revive scrapped levy
• Cleansing levy: Court rules against the charge

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