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Watch — How Cape Town's municipal bills are outrunning its middle-class residents

Cape Town homeowners who do not qualify for income-linked rebates are paying municipal bills that have significantly outpaced inflation and salary increases over the past decade as a result of spiralling property valuations and a wave of fixed charges that did not exist 10 years ago. Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis explains.

Rebecca Davis
By Rebecca Davis
29 Mar
Illustrative image: Daily Maverick/ Multimedia Illustrative image: Daily Maverick/ Multimedia

Reporting by: Rebecca Davis
Edited by: Anda Tolibadi
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Creative lead by: Malibongwe Tyilo
Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

Read more here and here.

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Mark Chapman 31 March 2026 09:17 AM

WRT municipal bills, I can guarantee that Cape Town residents get substantially better value for their money than we do in Johannesburg.

Peter 16 April 2026 08:30 AM

Pollution of marine life by untreated sewage is where the Western Cape should receive severe criticism. Shrouded in terms of ‘compliance’ is unacceptable terminology. Issue not prioritised and the WC government has the sea to dump their waste. Facility not available to all provinces. No political party has accepted this issue as a priority.