Social justice activists concerned about CoCT's 'deeply unpopular' municipal budget

CAPE TOWN - A social justice activist has raised concerns about the City of Cape Town's municipal budget, which was tabled this week.

The city's budget includes a tariff structure that will see municipal bills increase at the end of July.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said he heeded initial concerns about proposed rate hikes in a draft budget, which was presented to council in March by softening the tariff proposals, but ratepayers are still unhappy.

The founder of civic group Stop COCT, Sandra Dickson, said the city used the majority vote of the province's ruling party to approve Cape Town's municipal budget on Thursday.

Dickson said the "deeply unpopular" budget raises serious questions about the state of democracy in Cape Town.

"The second public participation results published by the city show that 87% of participants responded negatively to this budget."

Dickson said, despite the city's softening of tariff increases, ratepayers will still have to fork out more.

"With this budget, the city and its mayor prove to homeowners once again that money for the coffers of the city trumps affordability and genuine regard for the hardship this budget is bringing to households."

CAPE TOWN MAYOR DEFENDS R40 BILLION BUDGET

Hill-Lewis said the city's R40 billion budget over the next three years is not a frivolous spending spree.

Hill-Lewis responded to concerns about property rate hikes, which he said will be used to fund infrastructure projects in the city.

"We are upgrading our wastewater works, quadrupling our rate of pipe replacements to bring the number of pipe bursts down and sewer spills down. We're building new MyCiti lanes and upgrading the electricity grid."

Hill-Lewis said the infrastructure upgrades are necessary to ensure Cape Town is not compromised in the future.