Property owners beware a quiet shift in municipal power

In the same month that Ramaphosa approved public office salary increases, we also hear about increasing municipal overreach. A recent article in the Mossel Bay Advertiser is worth close attention.

The article describes how, in the past, if a municipality wanted to charge a property owner a higher rate because the property was being used differently (for example, as a business instead of a home), it first had to formally update the property’s valuation roll and follow due process.

Now, because of a court ruling, municipalities no longer have to do that first. They can charge higher or “penalty” rates based on how they say the property is actually being used, even if the official valuation roll still lists it as residential.

The legal foundations of this drive

Every municipality operates a land-use scheme that defines how properties may be used be it residential, commercial, agricultural, and so on. Using land outside these categories without approval is unlawful as the article notes, “land may not be used for any purposes other than those allowed by the scheme without prior municipal consent.”

The turning point was a 2021 Supreme Court of Appeal ruling, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Zibi. The court confirmed that municipalities may impose higher, punitive rates on properties being used unlawfully, even without first amending the valuation roll. The judgment rejected the idea that municipalities must update valuations before acting, noting that doing so would create “an unreasonable administrative burden.”

This decision has given municipalities far greater confidence to enforce zoning rules directly and at scale without due process.

Properties that are now attracting scrutiny

Enforcement is no longer limited to obvious commercial operations. Increasingly, municipalities are targeting short-term letting such as Airbnb, informal student accommodation, unapproved home businesses, subdivided or multiple units, and additional dwellings or backyard rentals. Many of these were previously tolerated, but under financial pressure and with clearer legal authority, municipalities are now treating them as zoning contraventions with financial consequences.

The article states that in response to this change, property owners should check their zoning certificate, understand what is permitted, and apply for consent use or rezoning where necessary. Property owners are urged to respond promptly to municipal notices, keep records of approvals, and seek professional advice early.

However, this article does not address the elephant in the room, that South Africa has become a tyrannical state, with “one rule for me and another for thee.”

Tyranny in South Africa

The reality is that not only the Western Cape, but South Africa as a whole, now functions as an anarchic state in which one group can act without consequence. The government is unable to maintain even basic order (such as land invasion), and the result is that responsible property owners and ratepayers are penalised for the governments failures.

No doubt this change will be used to target compliant and visible residents, while allowing lawless behaviour to continue unchecked. South Africa increasingly exhibits the features of anarcho-tyranny: an immoral state that is both absent where it should act and aggressive where it is easiest to enforce. We have been showing this pattern repeatedly, and this is simply another example of it.

What is required is a new dispensation for South Africa, centred on accountability through local autonomy. If a better future is to be built, it will not come from a failing central authority, but from the deliberate formation of strong in-group institutions capable of governing, protecting, and sustaining their own communities.