Judgement was reserved in the Western Cape High Court yesterday where the City’s fixed tariffs are being challenged. The court heard that the defence of the City's tariffs had been one of the “most complex cases that we’ve ever had to articulate”, according to the City’s lawyer, Advocate Nazreen Bawa SC.
Since Tuesday, Judge President Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana, as well as presiding judges Judge Andre le Grange and Judge Katharine Savage, have heard from legal representatives from the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), AfriForum, the City, GOOD, Cape Town Ratepayers Association, SA 1st Forum, and CoGTA.
In its main application, SAPOA and AfriForum are asking for the three tariffs in the budget, namely the Cleaning Tariff, the Fixed Water Charge, and the Fixed Sanitation Charge, to be declared unconstitutional and…