City receives lesser grant compared to cities of a similar size

By Cindy Witten
25 February 2009

Following the unveiling of the Provinces 2009 budget yesterday, Western Cape Finance and Economic Development MEC Garth Strachan announced that more than R17 billion would be allocated to key areas such as education, health and housing.

The City of Cape Town has been given an equitable grant allocation of R600 million, while cities such as Durban and Ekhuruleni, have each received a grant of R1 billion each.

Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Economic & Social Development and Tourism, Ian Neilson says that this is unfair.
“We believe that this is not fair. These are cities of similar size and the Cape Town citizens are paying national taxes and are therefore entitled to a fair allocation from the national fiscus,” he said.

Nielson says that the formula used by the National Treasury to allocate the grant is biased and that Cape Town is being “short-changed on its fair share of the national fiscus”.