Community survey shows improvement in service delivery

The City of Cape Town recently received the findings of the 2012/13 Community Satisfaction Survey conducted by TNS on behalf of the City. The survey measures public perceptions of the City's delivery of services across the metro.

Cape Town is one of a few municipalities in the country that uses independent research to measure community satisfaction with the City's performance annually. We do this as part of our commitment to building a Well-run City that is responsive to the needs of our citizens.

It is heartening that the findings of the survey for the last five consecutive years reflect an increasing level of satisfaction with the City's service delivery efforts by both residents and business.

The average rating on the Likert scale for the overall performance of the City by residents increased from 2,6 in 2008/9 and 2009/10, to 2,7 in 2010/11 and 2011/12, to reach 2,9 in 2012/13.

All sub-districts showed an improvement in assessing the overall performance of the City, except for the northern district which registered a slight decline.

In the Metro South-East, which includes Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, satisfaction with the overall performance of the City has steadily increased since 2008/9. This is clear evidence that sustained investment in these areas is leading to tangible improvements in the quality of services provided to residents.

Also given the importance of the private sector to help create jobs, it is pleasing that the average rating for the overall performance of the City by business increased from 3,0 in 2008/9 to 3,3 in 2011/12 to 3,4 in 2012/13.

Below is a summary of the 2012/13 survey results.

Residents Survey

Overall perceptions 2012/13:

69% of residents said that, overall, the City of Cape Town's performance was good, very good or excellent (up from 63% in 2011/12, 62% in 2010/11, 57% in 2009/10 and 54% in 2008/9).

City as a service provider 2012/13:

69% of residents rate the City of Cape Town as good, very good or excellent in fulfilling its role as a public service provider (up from 62% in 2011/12 and 2010/11, 58% in 2009/10 and 54% in 2008/9).

Trust in the City 2012/13:

74% of residents rate their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as fairly strong, very strong or extremely strong (up from 69% in 2011/12, 66% in 2010/11 and 2009/10 and 61% in 2008/9).

Areas of strength that have emerged from the 2012/13 residents' survey include:

• Essential services remain a relative area of strength for the City overall for both residents and business; particularly refuse collection, and the provision of water, sewerage and sanitation.
• Library services continue to be one of the highest rated services by residents even though there has been a small decline in the past year.
• The score for the visible presence of traffic enforcement on roads has improved in the past year.
• Environment and conservation scores continue to show a significant improvement since 2008/9. Overall, nature reserve scores have shown a significant improvement in the past year, as well as preserving Cape Town's heritage sites and heritage resources and providing facilities for recycling waste material.
• Overall Fire and Emergency services scores have improved significantly since 2008/9 and in the past year.
• The overall health score by residents has improved significantly since 2008/9 and in last year, with all the attributes increasing significantly in the last year.
• Public transport scores have shown improvement by residents since 2008/9. In particular the provision of safe, affordable, reliable and punctual public transport has increased significantly in the past year.

Focus areas that have emerged from the 2012/13 residents' survey include:

• An area that continues to require some attention is road maintenance as this is seen as a high priority by residents.
• The survey also noted residents' concerns about the affordability of water and electricity.
• The enforcement of by-laws, illegal dumping and illegal land settlement has again been identified as being important to residents.
• Residents have expressed the view that the area of human settlements must be strengthened, with the overall score remaining unchanged in 2012/13.

Overall, residents' main priority focus areas for Cape Town remain job creation, crime prevention, and housing. Fighting corruption is still seen as a priority and this year was rated as the fourth highest priority.

Business Survey

Overall perceptions 2012/13:

87% of businesses said that, overall, the City of Cape Town's performance was good, very good or excellent (up from 84% in 2011/12, 80% in 2010/11 and 77% in both 2009/10 and 2008/9).

City as a service provider 2012/13:

89% of businesses rate the performance of the City of Cape Town in fulfilling its role as a provider of municipal services as good, very good or excellent (up from 83% in 2011/12, 81% in 2010/11, 77% in 2009/10 and 75% in 2008/9).

Trust in the City 2012/13:

87% of businesses rated their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as fairly strong, very strong or extremely strong (up from 84% in 2011/12, 81% in 2010/11, 80% in 2009/10 and 78% in 2008/9).

Areas of strength that have emerged from the 2012/3 Business Survey are as follows:

• The City is perceived by businesses in Cape Town as doing particularly well when it comes to providing essential services (water, refuse collection, sanitation, roads and lighting), with scores generally remaining stable relative to 2011/12 and increasing significantly since 2008/9.
• Ensuring that the roads around businesses are regularly maintained and potholes are fixed has shown improvement since 2008/9; however this is still one of the high priority areas for improvement.
• Emergency and Fire and Rescue services were added to the business survey for the first time in 2012/13 and received the highest scores in the entire business survey.
• The City continues to be rated well by business with regard to billings and payments and refuse being regularly removed from places of work.
• Law enforcement has improved since 2008/9 and there has also been a significant perceived improvement in the safety of the environment in which businesses operate and adequate measures being in place to address corruption in the City in the past year.
• There has also been a marked improvement since 2011/12 for the following categories: "there being a visible presence of Metro Police in your area of business" and "controlling illegal street trading".
• There has been a significant improvement in most of the scores of businesses in interacting with the City since 2008/9. "The submission of forms and applications being simple and efficient" is the highest scoring attribute in the interaction of businesses with the City.

Focus areas that have emerged from the 2012/13 business survey are:

• Ensuring that roads around businesses are regularly maintained and potholes are fixed is one of the high priority areas from business for improvement.
• For businesses, acting on noise complaints and the safety of the environment in which they operate is a high priority area, with safety and security remaining a top-of-mind concern for business people.
• Businesses also noted that enabling and improving affordable public transport as being a high priority area.
• Another area of importance noted from the business survey is the availability of call centre operators who can deal with their queries or, if not, transfer them to someone who can. Improving reaction time to reported issues and the ease with which they can be reported are also key factors for businesses.

Safety and security remains a priority concern for business. Electricity tariffs being affordable and water costs being charged at reasonable rates continue to remain concerns for businesses in Cape Town.

The 2012/13 survey results are encouraging as both residents and businesses rate the City's services and performance highly and indicate that it continues to improve.

The City will use these survey results to inform and refine the planning and implementation of municipal services across the metro. We will continue to do everything we can to meet the commitments expressed in the Integrated Development Plan, the Economic Growth Strategy and the Social Development Strategy to build the Opportunity City, Safe City, Caring City, Well-run City and Inclusive City that we want Cape Town to be.

These results will also be used by the leadership and management of the City to enhance service delivery where improvements are needed and to guide operational planning and implementation.

Statement issued by Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Patricia de Lille, August 27 2013

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