(Photo: Chris Hani District Municipality/ facebook)
This week, AfriForum objected to the proposed 2026/2027 water tariff increases that the Chris Hani district municipality published for public comment.
The civil rights organization believes that the proposed increases place a significant financial burden on households, pensioners, churches, schools, non-profit organizations and businesses across the district.
In the letter that the organization addressed to the municipality on Tuesday, clarity is demanded regarding the calculation and justification of the proposed rates.
Louis van de Vyver, AfriForum’s district coordinator in the Eastern Cape, says the organization points out that residents of Cradock have been experiencing serious water problems for months, ranging from no water supply to extremely low water pressure.
Van de Vyver says it raises concerns that the drastic rate increases may be the result of years of poor or insufficient maintenance of water infrastructure.
According to the published draft tariff structure, it is proposed that domestic water tariffs in the lowest consumer block (0 to 6 kilolitres) be increased from R13,80 per kiloliter to R61 per kilolitre.
This represents an increase of approximately 342%. Similar increases are also proposed for various household, institutional and business categories.
AfriForum warns that a household that currently uses an average of 15 kl of water per month may have to pay up to R1 000 per month for water under the new rates.
Archive photo (Photo: Maroela Media)
Van de Vyver says that although municipalities may legally increase rates where it is justified, these increases must still comply with the provisions of the Local Government Act: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 Art. 74(2)(d) of that act expressly states that rates must reflect the costs that are reasonably related to the delivery of the service.
AfriForum emphasizes that the concept of “reasonably” is of crucial importance.
The civil rights organization maintains that costs can arise from poor management, poor maintenance, excessive water losses, corruption, inefficient procurement processes, poor invoicing, avoidable tanker expenses and inadequate revenue collection and should not be passed on to consumers alone.
“The municipality bears the responsibility of proving that the proposed rates are based on unavoidable, efficient and reasonable service delivery costs,” says Van de Vyver.
The Municipal System Act further requires that a municipality’s tariff policy must be applied fairly and transparently, that users’ payments must be in proportion to their service use, that needy households must maintain access to basic services and that any subsidies or cross-subsidization must be fully disclosed.
Archive photo (Photo: Maroela Media)
In the letter, AfriForum also requested the following information from the municipality and encouraged residents to do the same:
- the complete cost of supply study and rate calculation methodology
- proof of affordability analyses
- details on support to needy households
- justification for the drastic increase in the 0 to 6 kiloliter consumer block
- prove that the costs recovered are reasonable, efficient and unavoidable
- full disclosure of any subsidies or cross-subsidization
- consideration of a phased implementation rather than an immediate and drastic increase.
“Water is not a luxury, but an essential service that is directly related to human dignity, public health and economic survival. Any move towards cost-reflective tariffs must be accompanied by transparency, fairness and sensitivity to the difficult economic circumstances in which many communities currently find themselves,” says Van de Vyver.
AfriForum makes an urgent appeal to the Chris Hani district municipality to enter into discussions with the public in an open and accountable manner, seriously consider all objections and reconsider the scope as well as the pace of the proposed rate increases, before final approval is granted.
