A war of words has erupted between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis over the City of Cape Town’s record on service delivery in poor areas.
While Ramaphosa criticised the metro for failing to close the gap between rich and poor Hill-Lewis fired back, accusing the President of political “damage control” and defending Cape Town’s pro-poor investment record as the best in the country.
Responding to questions from ANC MP Kenny Mmoiemang in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) of Parliament this week, the President highlighted that while the metro performs well administratively it continued to lag behind in providing basic services to residents in townships and informal settlements.
He raised concerns about the City of Cape Town’s failure to reduce inequality, despite its strong record in financial governance.
Citing census data, Ramaphosa noted that between 2011 and 2022 Cape Town performed below the national metro average in expanding access to essential services such as refuse removal, piped water, electricity and flush toilets.
In the spirit of co-operative governance and the Constitution the national government works with municipalities across the country, including the City of Cape Town.
“Analysis of the City’s budget suggests that the per capita investment in infrastructure and service delivery is significantly lower in townships and informal settlements than in the City’s more affluent areas,” he said, adding that national government is committed to working with local governments to ensure equal access to quality services.
“In the spirit of co-operative governance and the Constitution the national government works with municipalities across the country, including the City of Cape Town, to address these and other challenges. This assistance includes conditional grants for infrastructure and capacity building, technical assistance programmes, training for municipal officials and infrastructure development support.”
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis hit back, saying the President’s damage control does not stand up to the facts on Cape Town’s pro-poor delivery plan.
He said Ramaphosa was attempting to do damage control in the NCOP after recently endorsing Cape Town’s good governance. Mayor Hill-Lewis said Cape Town not only spends far more on pro-poor infrastructure alone than the total capital budget of any other metro, it also has the highest levels of access to reliable service delivery.
“The President is still trying to do damage control after he dared speak the truth when he said Cape Town and other towns governed by the DA are examples to follow,” said Hill-Lewis. “In fact, they are the only examples of progress and good governance in South Africa. Where his party governs there is only decay, corruption and collapsed services. That is the sea of ruin that the President presides over. The simple, irrefutable fact is that despite the enormous challenges of poverty and unemployment that South Africans face, also thanks to the ANC, Cape Town is steadily moving forward while every other city in the country is moving backwards. That is the simple choice that every voter faces.”
Record infrastructure
He continued to say that Cape Town has a South African record infrastructure budget of R40 billion over three years, a full 75% of which directly benefits lower-income households. According to Hill-Lewis Cape Town has outspent Johannesburg and Tshwane combined on infrastructure over the term of office and is even on track to outspend all three Gauteng metros combined by the end of 2025-’26.
“Just the 75% pro-poor portion of Cape Town’s record budget exceeds the entire capital budget of any other city by some distance. The conclusion is therefore undeniable: no city invests more in pro-poor infrastructure than Cape Town. Not only does Cape Town spend far more on pro-poor infrastructure alone than the total capital budget of any other metro, it also has the highest levels of access to reliable service delivery.”
He pointed out that Cape Town consistently tops performance data from a range of state agencies and independent bodies, including Ratings Afrika, which recently rated Cape Town as South Africa’s top metro once again based on financial and performance data.
“Cape Town is the only metro to get a clean audit, which includes service delivery performance, while Stats SA has found that Cape Town offers the widest access to free basic services based on its latest Household Survey published this year,” he said, pointing out that Census 2022 data shows Cape Town to have the highest levels of access to piped water (85,4%) and flush toilets (93,4%).
“It is unlikely that any other city is delivering greater electricity access in metro-supplied areas, as this is close to 100% in Cape Town where it is possible to do so. Cape Town also provides a reliable weekly refuse service to all households in formal areas, as well as door-to-door services in close to 100% of informal settlements, with skips servicing areas where this is not possible.”
Hill-Lewis said the City had spent 99% of the informal-settlements provision on service delivery and upgrading in informal settlements, while over the next three years Cape Town will invest an estimated R3,4 billion in informal settlement upgrades.
