THE final budget for the 2025/26 financial year has been unpacked following the recent intensive roadshow engagements with residents in eThekwini. The post budget speech was made at the business breakfast in Durban today (June 4).

The Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Cyril Xaba, said key issues raised during the consultations included unaffordability of tariff increases.

Also read: eThekwini Municipality advances water and sanitation services

“The people complained about the state of service delivery which is compounded by ageing infrastructure. Throughout that process, we maintained that it was not just a box-ticking exercise, but a genuine effort to deliver a budget for all eThekwini residents,” said Xaba.

Changes to the final budget and reduced tariffs are as follows:

• Domestic water tariff was reduced from 15% to 13%
• Water tariff for business was reduced from 16% to 14%
• The reduction in water tariffs followed lengthy discussions between Umgeni-uThukela Water and the Minister of Water and Sanitation which resulted in the water utility reducing its tariffs from 13%-11%
• We also effected a 2% reduction for sanitation tariffs
• The average property rates increase was reduced from 6.5% to 5.9%
• The proposed refuse tariff increase for domestic households were reduced from 9.9% to 9% in line with the tariff increase for business
• The proposed tariff increase for electricity of 12.72% remained unchanged as ESKOM cited increased generation and infrastructure maintenance costs.

In addition to the reduction in the tariff increases, the municipality has increased the rebate on vacant land to 30%, from 10%.

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“Furthermore, where property previously categorised as agriculture as at July 1 is being developed, it will be re-categorised as Vacant Land and a rebate of 50% will be granted to the developer upon application and approval for a maximum period of 36 months as a once-off relief. This will be applicable to agricultural properties rezoned or subdivided from July 1 that do not qualify for any other rebate or incentive,” said Xaba.

He said as a result of the tariffs adjustments, the annual budget was reduced from:

• The proposed R71.3b was reduced to R70.9b which is made up of an operating budget of R63.6b and a capital budget of R7.3b.

“We want to reiterate that the main focus of this budget is the replacement and rehabilitation of infrastructure to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.

“It also responds to the issue you raised of poor infrastructure as we have increased our capital budget to 10.3% (R7.3b), in line with the National Treasury norm to expand, replace and upgrade our infrastructure. A further 7% (R4,3b) of the operating budget has been allocated to repairs and maintenance of our assets,” said Xaba.

He said the municipality is working tirelessly to maintain the infrastructure.

“The implementation of the Trading Services Reform Programme will further improve service delivery with specific focus on water, sanitation, electricity, and waste management services.”

The ultimate goal of these reforms is to have self-contained utilities that are able to render these basic services in the most effective and efficient manner.

The municipality aims to enhance the financial sustainability of water services through the following actions:

• Improving financial management by increasing the cash collection of the unit to 92%
• Reducing non-revenue water by 5% annually to reach the target of 25%
• Replace all water meters that are older than 15 years
• Responding to all burst pipes within 24 hours
• Increasing the unit’s internal capacity by insourcing ward-based plumbers
• Proactive leak detection by deploying technology on the infrastructure
• Increasing asset maintenance budget to 8%
• Improve the efficiency of the call centre and automate it with the latest technology.

“We are confident that through this strategy we will be able to improve the efficiency of our water and sanitation business so that it can cope with the ever-growing service delivery demands that are placed on the city,” he said.

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