Metro Budgets compared: Cape Town offers highest household relief

05 June 2026

The City of Cape Town offers the most rates relief and benefits for pensioners and indigent households, based on a comparison of the tabled 2026/27 draft budgets for the big five metros.

Comparing the budgets of the five biggest cities in South Africa, Cape Town offers the highest rates relief and widest pensioner and indigent benefits for each major relief category:

• 100% rates rebate for indigent households (property value of R620 000 or less, or R7 500 maximum monthly household income)
• Free Basic Water and Sanitation (15KL water / 10,5KL sanitation monthly for indigent households)
• Rates-Free Benefit (first R620 000 of property value rates-free for homes up to R8m)
• Lifeline electricity qualifying threshold (property value R500 000 or less, monthly household income of R7 500 or less. Usage <450kWh monthly-average to stay on lifeline)
• Pensioner benefits (10-100% rates rebate and lifeline electricity for pensioners with a monthly household income of R27 000 or less, regardless of property value)

In an address to Council on 27 May, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the proposed further widening of rates relief for all residential properties up to R8m (previously R7m) to get the first R620 000 rates-free, up from R450 000 currently in 25/26. 
 
Pensioners also continue to benefit from the country's widest rebate qualifying criteria, with Cape Town also the only metro offering lifeline electricity to pensioners up to R27 000 monthly household income. In other cities, pensioners must be classified as indigent to qualify. 
 
‘The City of Hope Budget 2026/27 achieves several things at once that simply wouldn't be possible in other cities: the most comprehensive relief for struggling households, the lowest property rates formula of all metros, and critical basic infrastructure investments that outpace all Gauteng metros combined. Cape Town is SA’s one city that works, and with these investments we are building a city of hope for all, in line with our long-term vision,' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
 
See the full comparison of the big five metros below and here.
 
100% rates rebate criteria for indigent households

• Cape Town – up to R620 000 property value or R7 500 monthly household income
• Ekurhuleni – up to R7 073 household income (property value must not exceed R1,5m) OR deemed indigent (property value up to R600 000)
• eThekwini – up to R350 000 property value
• Tshwane – up to R250 000 property value
• Joburg - <R1 300 household income for 100% rebate, 70% available up to R7 500 (property value must not exceed R500 000)

Lifeline electricity qualifying criteria 

• Cape Town – property value of R500 000 or less, monthly household income of R7 500 or less
• Joburg – up to R7 500 income; property value must not exceed R500 000
• Ekurhuleni – up to R7 073 income (property value must not exceed R1.5m) OR deemed indigent (property value up to R600 000)
• eThekwini - property value up to R350 000
• Tshwane - property value up to R250 000

Free Basic Water

• Cape Town - 15kl (up to R620k property value and/or R7 500 monthly household income)
• Joburg - 10kl (household income up to R7 500), 12kl (up to R5 000); 15kl (up to R1 300); 
• Tshwane – 12kl (up to R250k property value)
• Ekurhuleni - 6kl (deemed indigents, property up to R600k) / 10kl (registered indigents, income up to R7 073)
• eThekwini – 6kl (property value up to R350k, or income up to R7 000 and property up to R750k)

Rates-free benefit

• Cape Town – first R620 000 rates-free (properties up to R8m)
• Joburg – R300 000
• Tshwane – R250 000
• Ekurhuleni – R150 000
• eThekwini – R120 000

*All amounts include the R15 000 impermissible
 
Pensioner benefits

Pro-poor infrastructure investment

Cape Town’s ‘City of Hope’ Budget draft contains a R40 billion three-year infrastructure budget - a South African record.
 
By 27/28, the City’s capital budget will exceed that of all three Gauteng metros (R14,4bn combined).
 
Around 130 000 construction-related jobs will flow from capital investment in the current term of office alone, with 75% of infrastructure spending directly benefitting lower-income households.
 
Infrastructure investment highlights over the three-year budget framework include:

• R16,7bn water and sanitation investment - 40% of total spending - including major wastewater works upgrades, quadrupled pipe replacement, and expanded water supply sources
• R6bn in electrical grid upgrades and maintenance to prepare for a decentralised energy future with less Eskom reliance
• R3,7bn in road maintenance, pothole repairs, upgrades to roads and stormwater, and R653m in congestion relief projects
• A further R3,3 billion for the major MyCiTi Cape Flats expansion, the biggest of its kind in South Africa.
• R3,3bn for informal settlement upgrading and state-subsidised housing
• A further R227m for sports facility upgrades
• R300m for the Strandfontein Pavilion redevelopment

The City of Hope Budget further includes an all-time record R6,8bn safety and security budget proposed for 2026/27.
 
Submit comments for the supplementary public participation

Supplementary public participation is open until 10 June.

This will allow sufficient time to adopt a budget before the financial year begins on 1 July 2026 as the law requires. The Western Cape Minister of Finance has been notified and has given approval for the amended budget adoption time-line.

Visit www.capetown.gov.za  and click the draft budget trending box on the homepage for all budget-related information, as well as a public engagement schedule.
 
Email: Budget.Comments@capetown.gov.za
 
Online: www.capetown.gov.za/collaborate ; or www.capetown.gov.za/HaveYourSay
 
Visit: Subcouncil offices
 
Phone: 0800 212 176
 

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office