City of Tshwane announces tariff hikes

Residents of Tshwane will have to tighten their belts after the metro announced tariff increases for its services.

During the city’s budget speech this week, the city said the water and sanitation tariff will go up by 5.9%, refuse removal by five percent and property rates by five percent.

Finance MMC Jacqui Uys also said they only had enough budget for a five percent salary increase this year.

City improved audit outcomes

Uys said during the 2022-23 financial year, the city improved its audit outcomes from that of an adverse opinion to a qualified audit outcome.

“We managed to clear two of the three adverse audit findings identified by the auditor-general and we now focus on clearing the third relating to property, plant and equipment,” she said.

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“At the same time, Moody’s Ratings changed the city’s financial outlook to stable, while Ratings Afrika found the city achieved the best improvement in financial sustainability of all metros in 2023.”

Uys said in formulating the budget, the city ensured it was based on a financially sound plan that would stabilise the metro’s finances, while prioritising service delivery for all.

“The city is tabling a total budget of R50.6 billion, comprising an operating budget of R48.3 billion and a capital infrastructure investment budget of R2.3 billion for the 2024-25 financial year,” she said.

R75m allocated towards prepaid electricity meter roll-out

Uys said the city has allocated R75 million towards its prepaid electricity meter roll-out to address under-metering.

It also put R91.9 million towards credit control operations, R20 million towards electricity losses (management), R3 million for tendering bills on WhatsApp and USSD, R2 million revenue for the management war room, R2 million towards new electricity connections, R60 million towards water conservation and R50.2 million towards water leak repairs and water losses.

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The city will further allocate R52.1 million towards meter readers, R54.6 million for debt collections and R49.5 million for cash collection fees to strengthen its debt collection.

Other key allocations include R78 million towards repairing water leaks and reducing nonrevenue water losses, R50.8 million towards conducting road maintenance and fixing potholes, R7.6 million for the maintenance of Centurion Lake and R15.4 million to rehabilitate sinkholes in the city.

R4.5m for community safety cluster

The Tshwane Community Safety Cluster, made up of the emergency services department and the Tshwane Metro Police Department was allocated a combined budget of R4.5 billion for the 2024-25 financial year.

Uys also said the 2024-25 financial year budget made provision for salary increments of 5.1% for employees and five percent for councillors.