The eThekwini Municipality’s council will meet to discuss and approve the 2026/27 R74.7 billion draft budget on Friday. The eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) is unhappy with the ANC eThekwini region's proposed tariff increases.
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The eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement criticises the ANC's proposed budget as mere political theatre, highlighting concerns over rising tariffs and service delivery challenges.
The municipality’s council will meet to discuss and approve the 2026/27 R74.7 billion draft budget on Friday. The proposed tariff increases are electricity (10.5%), water (15%), sanitation (13%), refuse removal (13%), and property rates (5%).
The ANC in eThekwini has proposed the following tariff adjustments: rates (2%), electricity (9%), water (14% for households and 15% for businesses), sanitation (8% for households and 9% for businesses), and refuse removal (9.5%).
The ERPM was reacting to the ANC Regional Working Committee (RWC) statement that it presented a mandate supporting the adoption of a budget that accelerates service delivery, eases the rising cost of living for ratepayers and small businesses, and prioritises the needs of the poor and vulnerable.
Thanduxolo Sabelo, ANC eThekwini Regional Task Team coordinator, said that reliance on water tankers undermines the dignity of communities and that the ANC regards the water crisis as a state of emergency requiring an urgent and decisive response.
“To address this crisis, the ANC has mandated its deployees to support the investment of R1.3 billion in the Southern Aqueduct pipeline project. This historic investment in replacing and upgrading a 59-year-old deteriorating pipeline will benefit more than 1.2 million residents through 33 reservoirs, ensuring reliable access to water,” Sabelo said.
In addition, Sabelo said the ANC supports additional funding for water package plants to extract and distribute water from existing sources — Umnini Dam, Ntshongweni Dam, and Inanda Dam —as a start. This intervention, he said, will provide immediate relief to neighbouring communities.
“We support the R2.7 million allocation to assist pensioners facing rising living costs, alongside a review of the indigent policy to better support qualifying residents.”
The ANC also recognises homelessness as a growing challenge in the city and supports funding for the Sakhithemba Homeless Shelter in Illovo.
“The ANC believes this is a genuinely pro-poor budget that prioritises the needs of all residents of eThekwini. The ANC will continue engaging stakeholders,” Sabelo said.
Asad Gaffar, ERPM chairperson, said that while any reduction in proposed tariff increases is acknowledged, the reality facing residents, pensioners, businesses, and ratepayers across eThekwini is that they simply cannot afford any further tariff increases under current economic and service delivery conditions.
“Token reductions are not relief — they are political theatre. The ANC presents marginal reductions in tariff increases as though residents should be grateful. Every municipal service will still cost more than it did last year,” Gaffar said.
He said residents are grappling with rising unemployment, food inflation, and fuel costs.
“The Auditor-General’s own findings paint a deeply alarming picture of billions lost through non-revenue water and poorly managed infrastructure projects. There is no indication that luxury and non-essential spending will be curbed.”
The ERPM maintains that before residents are asked to pay for tariff increases, the municipality must first demonstrate decisive action to recover losses caused by corruption and inefficiency, and hold failing officials accountable.
“The time has come to stop funding municipal decline, without demanding meaningful reform. The residents of eThekwini will judge this budget not by political slogans, but by whether there is service delivery.”
Meanwhile, the DA leadership in eThekwini will hold a media briefing on Thursday, following engagements with various political parties.
The party is expected to provide an assessment of the current state of service delivery and a review of the proposed 2026/27 budget.
eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said the budget report is being finalised with responses from the national ministers of Water and Energy that will impact the final figures.
Xaba could not comment on the ANC statement, as what will be presented at the council meeting on Friday will be final.