DA calls for ‘Cape Town Model’ to be shared at a mini-summit for metros 

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by Cilliers Brink MP, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The DA will recommend to the Ministers of Finance and Cooperative Governance that a mini-summit of South Africa’s metros be held to learn how Cape Town manages its finances.

For the second year running, Ratings Afrika’s Municipal Sustainability Index has ranked Cape Town as the most financially sustainable metro in South Africa, and the city has received 16 unqualified audits. This is the result of years of uninterrupted good governance (even in the midst of regional crises and national setbacks).

In the interest of co-operative governance, Ministers Tito Mboweni and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma should give struggling metros across the country an opportunity learn how they can improve their financial health using lessons learned from the Cape Town model.

The last Municipal Audit report released by the Auditor General in 2020 revealed how municipalities registered over R32 billion in irregular expenditure. This level of waste undermines service delivery.

The high levels of dissatisfaction among residents on service delivery is sign of the pervasive culture of corruption and waste. Every rand misspent or stolen is a rand not spent on improving access to water, electricity and roads and making cities liveable and bankable.

Cape Town is in a unique position to share with its peers at metro level, how it has produced the best outcomes in operating performance, liquidity management, debt governance, budget practices, affordability and infrastructure development.

The City’s high ranking on the sustainability index stems from its ability to ability to deliver services, develop and maintain the infrastructure, absorb financial shocks without external financial assistance.

The City therefore offers the rest of the country a standard of success to aspire to, and we hope that the ministers will consider the DA’s proposal in a non-partisan spirit.