The application for leave to appeal is about whether the applicant municipality (the City) had power to exact an estimated regional service levy from the respondent levy-payer (the respondent). The main question is whether Government Notice R340, entitled "Calculation and Payment of Regional Services Levy and Regional Establishment Levy", dated 17 February 1987 (the Notice), gave the City the power to estimate the levies due. The Minister of Finance (the Minister) purported in the Notice to confer on the City the power to "estimate the amount of any levy which, in its opinion, is probably payable" in respect of a relevant month or period. The Minister purported to do so in terms of section 12 of the Regional Services Councils Act 109 of 1985 (the Act). Section 12 vests power in the Minister, by notice in the Gazette, to "determine the manner in which the regional services levy and the regional establishment levy shall be calculated and paid". Section 12(1A) further gives the Minister the power to "determine how an amount upon which the regional establishment levy is payable shall be calculated" and to "make such other provision as he deems necessary to enable a council to impose and claim any such levy".

The application for leave to appeal is dismissed with costs.
Ngcobo CJ, Moseneke DCJ, Cameron J, Froneman J, Khampepe J, Mogoeng J, Nkabinde J, Skweyiya J and Van der Westhuizen J.