AfriForum goes to court again over Tshwane Metro’s illegal levy

AfriForum today filed an urgent application in terms of section 18(3) of the Superior Courts Act (10 of 2013) against the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to prevent the Metro from continuing to levy the controversial city cleansing levy on Pretoria residents.

This levy was declared illegal and invalid by the Pretoria High Court on 27 June this year. The Metro’s application for leave to appeal was also dismissed (with punitive costs).

Despite these rulings and the court’s clear order that the Metro must immediately cease the levy and credit Pretoria residents’ accounts, the Metro has resumed placing the levy on residents’ accounts on 1 September 2025 – and even applied it retroactively to July 2025. According to AfriForum’s court documents, the metro has thus openly disregarded a court order and misled the public about the timeline and nature of the levy.

However, the Tshwane Metro petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal on 22 September 2025 and as a result the initial court order was suspended. AfriForum’s section 18(3) application now seeks to have the levy rescinded until the appeal process is concluded, thereby helping to finally and permanently free the residents of the Tshwane Metro from this double tax.

Administrative nightmare:

In a statement to the media, the Metro previously admitted that the levy was “incorrectly levied,” blaming the error on a technical “anomaly”. Yet the metro has refused to automatically refund the wrongful amounts and now expects sectional title managements to file disputes against the levy themselves and submit supporting documents (proving that their private waste disposal services have valid transport permits) – before the levy can be removed from their accounts.

Although AfriForum encourages residents to comply with the requests, the organisation also expresses its concern over the Metro’s cover-up of its own administrative incompetence. The concern is also reinforced by the fact that those who declare disputes and send them to the Metro’s designated email addresses receive an automatic reply indicating that the Metro’s inbox is “full” and therefore cannot receive the message.

“Private service providers must have the necessary permits and should be able to provide them on request. What is completely unacceptable, however, is that the Metro is using these so-called compliance processes as a smokescreen for its own incompetence and mismanagement. The crisis was not created by residents or service providers, but by a Metro that cannot manage its own systems, charge bills correctly or balance its budget. Instead of getting its own house in order, the Metro is now once again shifting the administrative nightmare and financial burden onto taxpayers,” says Arno Roodt, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Greater Pretoria South.

“AfriForum stands firm and believes that the levy will be fought all the way to the highest court. However, we encourage residents to continue to declare disputes against the unlawful levy in the meantime, overcrowded inboxes are the Metro’s problem and should not deprive residents of their right to declare a dispute,” says Deidré Steffens, advisor for Local Government Affairs at AfriForum.

AfriForum encourages residents of Pretoria to help protect their community from abuse of power by becoming a member of AfriForum. Please visit www.wordlid.co.za for more information.