Water supply continues to the Schotsche Kloof sectional title scheme
11 June 2026
Water supply continues to the Schotsche Kloof sectional title scheme, and no one will be without water. However supply is currently restricted to bulk water meters in light of the unsustainable accumulating debt, non-payment and Body Corporate not honouring payment agreements. The City has installed standpipes in close proximity to fire hydrants and residential units to ensure each block has access to water.
The Schotsche Kloof Body Corporate’s overdue debt continues to accumulate rapidly. Debt is currently at R17m, with an average R170 000 monthly bill and only R50 000 total paid in 2026 to date. Legally, the City may not ignore this debt, which is extremely high, unsustainable and growing.
The City remains open to sustainable payment arrangements and cessation of debt management. Unfortunately to date, sectional title holders have been let down by their Body Corporate, who have not managed the scheme’s affairs responsibly over several years as they are entrusted to do.
The Body Corporate has repeatedly made false undertakings to the City, and has not collected or paid over monthly water bills from unit-holders for unclear reasons. The Body Corporate further neglected to provide promised information to register pensioner and indigent beneficiaries, with the City proceeding to go door-to-door to ensure all were registered.
This is a private Sectional Title Scheme of 17 blocks and 191 units. Residents have a range of income levels. The City has assisted with indigent and pensioner rebate applications for those who qualify. However, more than two-thirds do not qualify for indigent benefits as they earn more than R7 500 per month. Like people with similar incomes across the metro, these residents should be paying for services rendered.
Over the last three years of non-payment, the City has engaged the Body Corporate continuously, going over and above to issue warnings to avoid debt management actions. These efforts include:
- Going door-to-door to register all qualifying indigent, pensioner rebate unit-holders for benefits
- Entering into several payment arrangements over time which the Body Corporate has failed to honour
- Writing off R9,2m in historic debt and offering further debt write-off measures, provided payment arrangements are honoured
- Resorting to the courts to obtain a judgment to recover the debt and force the Body Corporate to manage the building’s affairs sustainably in the interests of unit-holders
- Ensuring that water restrictions do not leave residents without access to water completely
A Body Corporate is the legal representative of the collection of unit holders in a sectional title scheme, and is responsible for collecting sufficient levies to cover services cost, and ensuring this is correctly and responsibly paid over to the City.
The Body Corporate in this matter has simply failed or refused to do so. The reasons why the Trustees of this Body Corporate are refusing to collect or pay the amounts due for water are unclear to the City, but cannot be allowed to continue.
The City is currently reviewing options for debt recovery following the court ruling authorising this. This may include applying for an administrator to run the Body Corporate’s affairs and finalise a debt recovery agreement. This agreement would need to cover monthly service bills going forward and an agreed part of outstanding debt.
The City is compelled to apply the law in a fair and equal manner and always follows prolonged debt management processes. According to the Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy as well as the provisions of Section 115 of the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2022, the City has a duty to act to safeguard municipal income and to perform debt management actions
The City has unfortunately been left with no option but to follow the debt management prescripts of the law.
End
SOUND as per Cllr Zahid Badroodien, Mayco Member for Water and Sanitation:
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
