Cape Town record speaks louder than mere rhetoric
· Citizen
A letter by Dusani (The Citizen, 20 April) misses a larger truth South Africans increasingly recognise: the DA governs better.
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Recent Social Research Foundation polling in Johannesburg found 84% of likely voters believe service delivery would improve under DA governance, yet only 39% would vote DA.
That gap is striking, but it confirms the competence debate is largely settled. The real task now is converting credibility into trust, by demonstrating consistently that the DA governs for everyone, especially the poor.
That is why the caricature of Cape Town as a city of polished appearances (and ignored suffering) is so misleading.
No serious observer denies the persistence of hardship, indignity and backlogs. But the real question is not whether inequality exists – it is which party governs more effectively, invests more deliberately and produces better outcomes under the same national constraints.
On that test, Cape Town remains South Africa’s clearest example of a city directing scarce resources where it matters most, to give everyone a chance of a better life.
Cape Town’s own budget shows that 75% of infrastructure spending benefits lower-income households.
Its 2024 budget is projected to support over 130 000 jobs over three years.
By early 2026, the city reported a national record R40 billion infrastructure investment over three years – larger than Johannesburg and Tshwane combined – with the same 75% directed toward poorer communities.
That is not the profile of a city indifferent to poverty. It is the deliberate allocation of capital to water, sanitation, roads, housing-linked services and community infrastructure in working-class areas.
The service delivery data reinforces this. Statistics SA’s Census 2022 metro comparisons show Cape Town at 97.6% improved water access, 93.6% sanitation, 91.4% refuse removal and 96.3% electricity access.
Most tellingly, it has the lowest rate of households experiencing water interruptions – 28.8%, compared with 37.7% in Johannesburg, 38.3% in Ekurhuleni, 47.3% in Tshwane, 53.3% in eThekwini and 66.7% in Buffalo City. On refuse removal, Cape Town is joint best of metros.
Infrastructure quality tells the same story. Stats SA rates Cape Town’s Infrastructure Quality Index at 4.8 out of 5 – the top tier nationally – and the highest score for water infrastructure.
The difference is also evident in livelihoods. By the fourth quarter of 2025, the Western Cape recorded South Africa’s lowest unemployment rate at 18.1%, with Cape Town at 19%, against a national rate of 31.4%.
Add the auditor-general’s findings – Cape Town is the only metro with a clean audit – and the conclusion is unavoidable: the DA difference is not branding. It is measurable performance.
The DA is not perfect. But in a landscape of municipal dysfunction, financial decay and collapsing services, it stands alone as the party that governs better.
The challenge now is to deepen that record – especially for the poorest – so better government is not only visible in data, but felt in daily life across SA.