Hill-Lewis refutes Ramaphosa's statement on CoCT's service delivery in townships

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has refuted a statement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the city cannot claim to be the best-run metro when the standard of services in its townships remains poor.

Ramaphosa was briefing the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday on national developments and service delivery matters.

The president told the NCOP that census data shows Cape Town performed the worst between 2011 and 2022 in providing services to the city’s disadvantaged communities.

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Hill-Lewis said the president was doing damage control after his recent comments about Cape Town and other towns governed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) being examples to be emulated and copied by other metros.

The president told the NCOP that while the City of Cape Town tends to perform well with financial governance, it has not demonstrated significant progress in reducing the levels of inequality, and is spending less in poorer communities than in affluent areas.

Hill-Lewis hit back, saying Cape Town not only spends more on pro-poor infrastructure than any other metro, the city also had the highest levels of service delivery in the country.

"The simple irrefutable fact is that despite the enormous challenges of poverty and unemployment we face, Cape Town is steadily moving forward and is South Africa's most functional metro city, while every other city in the country is moving backwards." 

Hill-Lewis said Cape Town would invest an estimated R3.4 billion in informal settlement upgrades over the next three years.