Why Cape Town’s levy looks dead in the water
There’s strong opposition to Cape Town’s plan to impose drought surcharge
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s plan to introduce a water levy looks likely to fail to take off, with many outside and within her party opposing it. De Lille announced late in 2017 that the proposed levy targeting owners of properties valued at R400,000 and above would be implemented at the beginning of February after going through council and public participation processes. The plan also required the approval of Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. De Lille said at the time the levy was meant to plug the city’s revenue shortfall of R1.7bn as a result of the drought and lower water usage. DA Cape metro chairman Grant Twigg said this week the drought levy would create "an undue burden on ratepayers". DA provincial chairman Anton Bredell said the party had made a formal submission objecting to the proposed water levy. In its submission, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse said it strongly opposed the imposition of the proposed drought levy and urged the city to engage the Western Cape p...
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