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The City of Johannesburg’s announcement of a 12.5% tariff increase for domestic water users has sparked backlash after civil society groups uncovered a hidden 65.6% spike in the fixed monthly water demand management levy.
Finance MMC Loyiso Masuku announced the city’s R97.1bn budget for the 2027 financial year this week.
Civil society group WaterCAN has revealed the 65.6% spike in a fixed water charge will cause households’ fees to jump from paying R65.08 to R107.74 per month before VAT (R124 including VAT), regardless of how much water they use.
WaterCAN director Ferrial Adam raised concerns about the lack of transparency in implementing the increase.
“It is not presented with the tables on the residential water usage charges, but buried in the long tariff document. Unlike the water usage tariffs, where the old and new prices are shown side by side, the year-on-year levy increase is not clearly compared in the tariff tables. Residents would have to dig through many pages of the budget documents to find it,” said Adam.
She said this would have an impact on low- and middle-income households that are already struggling.
“For low- and middle-income households struggling with rising electricity, transport and food costs, this creates another financial burden. Fixed charges are especially harmful because they punish people regardless of their efforts to conserve water.”
WaterCAN called on the City of Joburg to disclose the true impact of the proposed levy increase and correct the “misleading” presentation of the tariff increases.
TimesLIVE
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