WATCH: City receives over 2 600 tariff increase objections
The city’s public participation co-ordinator received the objection forms at Eureka House.
The last day to submit objection forms to the proposed tariff increases by the CoJ for the 2025/26 financial year was May 12.
Joburg south DA councillors, led by member of the Provincial Legislature Sergio dos Santos, hand-delivered 2 615 objection forms to Walter Phiri, the city’s public participation co-ordinator, at Eureka House in Springfield.
Councillors Tyrell Meyers, Faeeza Chame, Matsobane Sekhu, Rashieda Landis, Stuart Marais and Michael Chrichton were also present, as were Vumi Mfeya from the city’s health department and Beauty Sheleng from the city’s Citizen Relationship and Urban Management.
@southern.courier Joburg South DA councillors, led by Hon. Sergio dos Santos MPL, hand-delivered 2,615 objection forms against the proposed tariff increases by the City of Johannesburg for the 2025/26 financial year. The forms were received by the City’s public participation coordinator, Walter Phiri, at Eureka House on May 12. Today marks the final day for the submission of objections.
Sekhu said Johannesburg residents still suffer from poor service delivery, power outages, water cuts, potholes and uncut grass. Yet, the city wants to push through unjustified tariff increases.
Handing over the objection forms, Meyers said, “The residents handed these objections about the proposed increase in tariffs and the draft budget to us as councillors. We are officially handing them to the city because today is the deadline. These objections have been duly noted and will be collated for submission to the appropriate authorities to ensure the affected residents’ concerns are properly recorded and considered in the relevant budgetary processes. Thank you to Walter.
“This is a concern for our community and is very important. Thank you very much to the residents who participated.”
Dos Santos said, “Residents of Joburg south, the proposed tariffs are unaffordable. The councillors took the initiative to put in an online objection because, effectively, there wasn’t any assistance in place to object to this increase. We proposed an objection and had over 2 600 submissions. This will go a long way in decreasing the tariffs we cannot afford.”
The initial tariff proposals for the 2025/2026 financial year included:
• Electricity: A 12.51% increase in line with Eskom’s approved municipal tariff hike of 12.74%;
• Water and sanitation: A 13.9% increase across these services;
• Waste removal: A 6.6% increase in refuse removal and waste management tariffs;
• Property rates: A general increase of 5.6% across all property categories for the 2025/2026 financial year, and a reduction of the property threshold rebate to R200 000.
The reports tabled in March contained a budget of about R87.8b, comprised of an operating expenditure budget totalling R80.5b, and the capital budget totalling R7.3b for the 2025/2026 financial year.
