Key points
- The High Court rejected Johannesburg’s bid to overturn the property rates ruling.
- The court condemned the city’s engagement as a “dishonest and sham.”
- Categorising private schools as commercial properties violated procedural justice.
The South Gauteng High Court has dismissed the City of Johannesburg’s application for leave to appeal a judgment that found its 2023/2024 Property Rates Policy unconstitutional and procedurally flawed.
The dismissal delivers a decisive legal blow to the municipality’s efforts to defend the reclassification of privately-owned educational institutions as “Business and Commercial” properties.
Acting Deputy Judge President TP Mudau, handing down the ruling on 24 June 2025, found that the municipality had failed to demonstrate reasonable prospects of success or compelling legal grounds to justify an appeal. The court’s decision effectively upholds the original ruling, which declared parts of the city's property rates policy invalid due to a defective public participation process and a disregard for the constitutional rights of children.
'Dishonest and sham' consultation process exposed
The original judgment, consolidated from four separate applications, scrutinised the City’s reclassification of independent schools and its treatment of public input during the policymaking process.
The court found that the consultation process not only lacked transparency but was conducted in a manner that was “dishonest and a sham,” violating the principles of administrative justice enshrined in Section 33 of the Constitution.
At the core of the dispute were submissions from affected educational institutions, many of which operate in underserved urban and township communities and provide essential educational services to learners from low- and middle-income families. These schools contended that being rated as commercial entities significantly increased their financial burden, placing pressure on school fees and threatening continuity of access to quality education for thousands of pupils.
The court agreed, ruling that Johannesburg’s failure to meaningfully engage these concerns constituted a breach of both procedural fairness and the constitutional obligation to protect children’s rights.
A precedent for participatory governance
In rejecting the city’s appeal, Acting Deputy Judge Mudau reaffirmed that local governments are not merely entitled to consult the public but are obligated to do so meaningfully, particularly in matters that directly affect vulnerable populations. “The duty to facilitate public involvement must be construed in the context of our constitutional democracy,” the judgment noted, invoking prior Constitutional Court guidance on participatory legislative processes.
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