The November 4 local government elections taking place next month will see South Africans vote for the people who will represent them at the municipal level.
Everyday services help shape how desirable an area is to live in.
Now that matters far more for property because it affects roads, water, refuse collection, local infrastructure, said Elaine Vandayar, the real estate principal based in Richards Bay.
“The everyday services that help shape how desirable an area is to live in. So yes, pay attention to local developments, but keep your property decision grounded in the property itself. Ask yourself: Does the price make sense? Can I comfortably afford it? Does the area suit my needs? Does it make sense for where my life is heading? Elections matter, but as one part of a much bigger property decision.”
David Ingle, another real estate principal, said for homeowners across Gauteng's East Rand, municipal costs have moved higher again.
He said from the beginning of July, Ekurhuleni residents entered the new financial year with an 11% increase in water tariffs, 8.35% on sanitation, 3.4% on refuse removal and 8.76% on electricity.
“Tariff increases aren't unreasonable as infrastructure costs money to maintain; however, homeowners should see something in return. That is accurate billing, reliable electricity, consistent clean water supply, consistently maintained roads and infrastructure, and faster responses and solutions when things go wrong.”
Buyers now assess the home, its suburb, infrastructure reliability and the value of their municipal costs.
Ingle said that this is the trade-off. In property, this matters.
Buyers now assess the home, its suburb, infrastructure reliability and the value of their municipal costs. “The city says the increases are necessary to maintain infrastructure, improve service delivery and protect its financial sustainability. For East Rand property owners, the question is much simpler: 'If we're paying more, are we seeing it reflected in the suburbs we live in?'”
Gittins Attorneys, a premier boutique law firm, said that as South Africa elects its municipal councils, on the North Coast, an awkward truth sits under that date: most of what works in your day is run by people you never voted for. The gate that lifts when you get home. The verges and streetlights along Ballito Drive. The water in this morning’s kettle. Estate, precinct, concession. None of them is on the ballot.
The legal service provider said if one lives in an estate, they live under a constitution they agreed to the day they bought. It added that the Supreme Court of Appeal said as much in a case from KwaZulu-Natal, Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate Management Association II v Singh 2019 (4) SA 471 (SCA): buy into an estate and you become a member of its association, and that relationship is a contract.
“It is why a 40 km/h limit on estate roads is enforceable against members although no traffic authority set it. The same litigation also saw three of that estate’s rules on domestic workers — restricting their hours and where they could walk — declared unlawful. That is the other half of the bargain: a private government is bound by its own contract, and a court will read it.”
Outside the gates, the firm said the Ballito UIP is a special rating area under the Municipal Property Rates Act 6 of 2004: every owner inside the precinct pays an additional rate on the municipal bill, which the municipality collects and hands to a non-profit company that tops up what the municipality provides-cleaning, patrols, upkeep.
Gittins Attorneys said then there is the water issue. Since 1999, the communities between the Tongaat and Umvoti rivers-Zimbali, Ballito, Salt Rock, Sheffield Beach, Tinley Manor, and the settlements inland-have had their water and sanitation delivered under South Africa’s first water concession: a 30-year agreement the old Borough of Dolphin Coast signed with Siza Water, then led by France’s Saur group and today South African-owned.
A 2025 case study on the provincial Treasury’s PPP programme puts water losses in the concession area at between 8% and 15% by 2021, against 39% for the district as a whole in 2023/24. It has kept the taps running for 27 years, which in this province is no small thing. It runs out early in 2029, the firm said.
given.majola@nationalmg.co.za