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A typical homeowner in the estate, outside Johannesburg, pays two bills each month. One goes to the City of Ekurhuleni and comes to about R5 920. The other goes to a private estate manager and comes to about R2 010. The larger bill, paid to the state, buys bulk water, sewage treatment, a weekly refuse truck, and municipal infrastructure in so far as any of that is maintained. The smaller bill, paid to a private company, buys world-class roads, streetlights, security, parks, and even an ambulance.

Across six homes now on the market, listed at between R6.77 million and R8.89 million, the private levy barely moves, from R2 060 to R2 164, a spread of about 5%. The municipal bill ranges from R5 804 to R8 476, a spread of about 46%, running at between 2.7 and 3.9 times the levy. The levy is flat because it is a price: every household draws on much the same services and pays much the same amount. The municipal charge climbs because it is a tax, levied at 1.152 cents in the rand on the value of the house, and it bears almost no relation to what the city delivers to the gate.

For its R2 010, Midstream maintains its own roads and stormwater, runs a 50km electrified perimeter with facial-recognition access control and round-the-clock patrols, reticulates its own electricity, and keeps its streetlights and boom gates on, without concerns over load-shedding, by relying on a private solar farm and battery bank, all while fielding its own paramedics. The municipal services residents still rely on are patchy by comparison, with refuse collected late, burst pipes slow to be repaired, and verges left overgrown. The estate does more, and does it more reliably, for a third of the price.

The Common Sense's senior editor Warwick Grey said, "This is a working demonstration that the core functions of local government, the roads, the lighting, the security, and the emergency response, can be delivered privately at a fraction of what a municipality charges in rates."