Zille takes on Johannesburg’s rates with a Cape Town comparison

Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Helen Zille has said Johannesburg’s property rates are too high for the services residents receive, and that Cape Town’s rate in the rand is lower, Joburg Etc reports.

Zille made the comments in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.

Rates and basic services

The interviewer put it to Zille that property values would rise under her mayorship, pushing up rates and the cost of basic services for residents. She was asked how she would reassure people who want better services but not sharply higher bills.

Zille responded that rates in Cape Town, measured in the rand, are lower than in Johannesburg. She said Johannesburg has ‘sky-high’ rates for the value residents get in return.

The City of Cape Town’s 2026/27 rate in the rand is 0.007010, compared with 0.009889 for Johannesburg. The figures were supplied by Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for finance.

Property values and prosperity

Zille said she found it strange that people would want property values to fall, as they are a leading indicator of a city’s success. She argued that falling values leave homeowners poorer and weaken a city’s ability to build generational wealth.

She also warned that people who create wealth and start businesses could leave a declining city and reinvest elsewhere, leaving millions of unemployed people behind.

According to Zille, the best way to address Cape Town’s high property prices is to make Johannesburg work. She said fewer people would then be leaving Johannesburg to buy in Cape Town, easing the pressure on supply and demand.

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