City adopts budget with tariff increases

Caoe Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the 2022/23 budget will ensure safer communities and better infrastructure. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency(ANA)

Caoe Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the 2022/23 budget will ensure safer communities and better infrastructure. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency(ANA)

Published May 31, 2022

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The City council adopted a R61.5 billion budget that will see huge allocations towards safety, water and sanitation, energy and transport.

In his budget address, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis described the budget as laying the foundation for Cape Town becoming an inclusive and safer city.

Hill-Lewis also said the budget, for the 2022/2023 financial year, would see 150 new law enforcement officers and crime fighting technology introduced to create safe environments.

"It offers the hope that we can stop load-shedding in our City. It offers hope for unemployed Capetonians that need our economy to grow at a much faster pace," said Hill-Lewis.

An amount of R667million would go towards the Phase 2A of the MyCiTi bus service linking Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha to Claremont and Wynberg.

Safety will be allocated R4.bn, while Water and Sanitation will receive a capital budget allocation of R2.3bn, Human Settlements R2.8bn and R1.4bn will be allocated for capital expenditure by the Urban Mobility directorate.

Around R1bn has also been budgeted for capital investment for the Energy directorate. Hill-Lewis said a large part of the budget allocations across the directorates will go towards infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.

But it isn’t all good news as consumers will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to pay for municipal rates that will increase by an average of 5.2% while electricity will go up by 9% come July 1.

Opposition parties rejected the budget and criticised the City for underspending and constant budget roll-overs.

ANC's Charlotte Heyns accused the City of not caring about the "dignity of people".

"Mayor, it is time for you to live up to your promises (including decent housing) that you made during the election campaign,“ said Heyns.

Another ANC Councillor, Xolani Sotashe, described the project allocations as "old wine in new skin".

Leader of the Cape Coloured Congress, Fadiel Adams said the budget contained "seeds for future service delivery".