Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis accuses President Ramaphosa of backtracking on Cape Town praise

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has fired back at President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying the president is backtracking on earlier praise for Cape Town’s performance.

When replying to a question in the National Council of Provinces, President Ramaphosa stated that in the decade between 2011 and 2022, Cape Town performed worse than the average of all metros in expanding access to services.

Hill-Lewis argued that Ramaphosa is just trying to save face after endorsing Cape Town’s clean audit reports.

“He is doing furious damage control after he dared to speak the truth a couple of weeks ago in saying that Cape Town is a place that should be emulated by ANC councillors,” he said.

Hill-Lewis said that Ramaphosa faced severe backlash from within the ANC and is now attacking the DA at every opportunity to prove that he is balanced.

He added that data shows that Cape Town is ahead in basic service delivery.

“We are moving forward in the right direction while every other city only moves backwards.”

To listen to Hill-Lewis in conversation with Mandy Wiener on the Midday Report on 702 and CapeTalk, use the audio player below: