The harsh reality behind DA-led City's ‘Best-Run’ image

Cape Town’s poorest communities are living in squalor, plagued by sewage down the streets, years without electricity, and unrelenting crime, exposing a grim reality beneath the city’s reputation as South Africa’s best-run metro.

This comes as ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa faces backlash for praising the DA’s governance. Critics have said while clean audits may impress on paper, they mean little to Cape Flats residents who live under the constant threat of gangs, drug lords, and systemic neglect.

Ramaphosa was addressing councillors at the FNB stadium on Monday, when he said that party leaders should learn from DA-run municipalities. 

The DA responded saying their “councillors are working hard to deliver better services for all residents”.

“This is why DA-run municipalities are top performing. President Ramaphosa's endorsement is more proof. The DA is working to create jobs, root out corruption, stop crime, and deliver better services.”

The Cape Times yesterday spoke to residents from different communities who said they felt neglected, and that the president's comments were out of touch with their suffering reality. 

More than 500 Khayelitsha residents yesterday marched to Parliament over having no access to electricity and calling for improved service delivery for informal settlements in their ward. 

In Valhalla Park, residents have been living in a new housing development without electricity for two years depending on fires to make food.

“It is very bad. Old people are staying there, that can't do anything, I can't tell you how many bodies went out of that place. People move in, then they pass away. People don’t have things like powerbanks, they can’t phone anybody. Rainy days you can’t make a fire outside because it's raining, you don’t have gas. Every day people must go out to families and charge their phones, charge their lights and you have to pay them.

“We moved in, in 2023. They promised us by March the lights would go on but nothing happened. In August they did have people that came and started with the cables, that was only for a month then they stopped it. We had a meeting with (City mayoral committee member for Human Settlements) Carl Pophaim then he told us they're going to start again in November. November came, nothing happened. Then they started again another month. Then they stopped. 

“I really don’t know what they are doing. If this city was so well run, our lights would have been on a long time ago, it is not fair,” resident Rookshana Arendse said. 

Kalksteenfontein resident and activist Beverline Steiger said every month she had to submit  reference numbers to the City over sewerage overflows down the streets. 

“This is not the best-run city. Every other day we have to log a sewer problem, the sewerage water is flowing in the streets coming up from the ground. The problem is they haven't fixed the underground pipes. We as a community feel the DA is not rendering a service to us. The service delivery we need and that we deserve. But next year they expect the people to vote again.”

Samora Machel CPF member Bongani Maqungwana said he felt that “the system in general is failing our people irrespective of which province you go to”. 

“For them to say the Western Cape is the best run province is an exaggeration of issues, if you go from the airport the first thing you see is a shack. That is not the experience of people living here. Cape Town is two cities, one for the poor (one for the rich). Samora has sewerage all over, nothing is happening, they hide behind extortion but they are not showing who is behind it. In Cape Town, 13 stations are in the top 30, there are guns in each and every street, people in Cape Town are afraid, they are staying in locking themselves behind (burglar) bars. They need to stop this politicking and work together in bringing a solution to the problem,” he said.

The City's mayoral committee member for Human Settlements, Carl Pophaim said a contractor was on site to complete the work in Valhalla Park.

"We look forward to the switch on in the coming weeks. We are committed to resolving this matter as it remains an absolute priority. We thank our beneficiaries for their support and sincerely apologise for the unforeseen and unexpected delay. We consulted residents as the units were completed. Knowing the violence, extortion and risk of unlawful occupation, there was consensus with the beneficiary community that they would take occupation prior to the installation of electrical services by the City to mitigate possible risks.

"Beneficiaries were again informed at the handover and at the Housing Consumer Education that units have no electricity. Beneficiaries are given the option of accepting or not accepting a house without electricity, against the context of the risk outlined above. This is standard practice. To date, all beneficiaries who moved into houses have signed an acknowledgement letter stating they accept moving into the house with no electricity," he said. 

Commenting on sewer issues in Kalksteenfontein, the City’s mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien said sewer blockages in the area occur due to the abuse of the network when foreign objects are thrown into the sewer system. 

“These include rags and sand. City teams do respond and clear the waste that blocks the sewer pipes, but as long as objects that shouldn’t be in sewer pipes continue to enter them, the blockages and consequential overflows will reoccur. A pilot project testing lockable manhole covers has been implemented to determine if stronger locking mechanisms can reduce theft and vandalism.  In the meantime, our teams are cleaning sewer pipelines regularly to reduce blockages. Illegal dumping and misuse of the sewer network can also damage the sewer infrastructure. Residents can help the City keep our sewer pipes clear and free from blockages.”

Cape Times