The eThekwini Municipality has approved its R70.9 billion Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF) for the 2025/26 financial year during a special council sitting held on 29 May. While the budget introduces significant downward revisions to tariff increases following public outcry, it was not passed without controversy.
The vote to approve the budget was met with strong opposition from several political parties, including ActionSA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), and the Democratic Alliance (DA), all of whom disapproved of the budget. These parties argued that the financial plan was not adequately aligned with the interests and hardships of the city’s residents. Critics labelled the budget as out of touch, with some councillors urging Mayor Cyril Xaba to return to the drawing board and revisit the proposed tariff increases.
Despite these objections, the budget was approved by a majority vote in council. Thos who supported it acknowledged that although progress had been made through tariff reductions, more could still be done to alleviate the burden on ratepayers.
A major focus of this year’s budget was the adjustment of tariff increases, which had emerged as one of the most contentious issues during the public participation process. The city consulted widely with business leaders, civil society, and ratepayer associations across the municipality before finalising the budget.
“As a caring city, we recognise the plight of residents and have considered every comment and concern raised, particularly those around proposed tariff increases.We have decided to lower our tariffs for certain utilities to ease the financial pressure on households and businesses,”said Mayor Xaba.
The revised increases include:
• Property rates increase reduced from 6.5% to 5.9%
• Residential water tariff increase reduced from 15% to13%
• Business water tariff increase lowered from 16% to 14%
• Residential sanitation tariff cut from 13% to 11%
• Business sanitation tariff lowered from 14% to 12%
• Refuse removal tariff trimmed from 9.9% to 9%
• Electricity tariffs remain at a 12.72% increase, as set by NERSA
Water strategy and service delivery turnaround are key pillars of the 2025/26 financial plan. The city aims to invest in water infrastructure upgrades, reduce losses, and introduce technology-driven regional management systems to improve reliability and efficiency. This approach forms part of a broader push to rebuild public trust and restore the city’s service delivery capacity.
“The 2025/26 budget is bold and responsible,” said Xaba. “It puts people first, confronts our challenges honestly, and lays the foundation for the city’s resilience and renewal.”
Despite the political disagreement, National Treasury endorsed the financial plan, describing it as “credible, funded, relevant, and sustainable” following a benchmarking session on 23 April.
While the city has taken steps to ease the financial load on residents, opposition parties maintain that the final budget still misses the mark for ordinary people, and have called for further revisions to better address the needs of struggling communities.
