Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the South African Property Owners Associations SAPOA attempt to stop Cape Towns pro-poor budget is to protect its own vested interests, and puts their profits ahead of the people of Cape Town, reports Cape town Etc .
The statement comes in response to SAPOAs pending High Court application for a review of the Citys linking of certain fixed charges to property value under the 2025/26 Invested in Hope budget.
According to the mayor, SAPOA, which represents many of the countrys largest and wealthiest property owners, has benefited significantly from Cape Towns well-run functionality. However, the association now wants to avoid contributing fairly to those same infrastructures.
They now argue that the city should charge the biggest property owners the same as individual low-income families. The city simply cannot agree, argued Hill-Lewis.
That would be regressive, place a disproportionate burden on ordinary families, and be patently unfair.