How Cape Town's e-billing rollout could impact tenants

Clive Jacobs, Lavender Hill

The City of Cape Town has informed tenants living in City-owned dwellings and likely across the entire Cape Flats that they will no longer receive bills delivered to their post boxes. Instead, every tenant will now be required to register with the City via SMS to receive all their revenue bills.

This decision does not make sense, as the majority of residents in rental stock either do not have mobile phones or email access, or are not familiar with using these systems. Clearly, this will create significant difficulties for many.

This is a serious concern, and I am certain that limiting access to information in this way will create havoc when it comes to tenants paying their municipal accounts.

Many people do not even open the mail they currently receive from the City, so how will they know when they receive bills electronically? This change is going to be a major challenge for tenants living in rental stock.

Most people are still unaware of this new requirement, and the deadline to register online is Wednesday, December 31, 2025.

Siseko Mbandezi, mayoral committee member for Finance, responded: “Please note, the City’s transition to email billing does not apply to rental stock tenants yet. Rental units, as well as indigent customers, have been excluded from the eBilling migration. This means that after Wednesday, December 31, 2025, we will continue printing and delivering accounts for all customers in these categories.

“We understand that many tenants may not have access to smartphones or emails, and for this reason the City has ensured that rental stock customers will still receive their printed municipal bills as usual until they are migrated to receive their municipal accounts online.

“We appreciate the engagement and hope this clarification brings comfort to the community. Should any resident require further assistance, please feel free to reach out to the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089.”