SA Cities Report: DA delivers best to the poor
The release today of the South African Cities Network's 2013 State of City Finances Report (SCFR) reveals that, where the DA governs, basic services for the poor are cheaper than anywhere else in South Africa.
The report is an analysis of the audited financial results of South Africa's ten biggest urban authorities and confirms that the DA-led City of Cape Town caters best for the needs of the poor.
The report shows that despite increasing financial constraints faced by local government authorities, where there is political will and a commitment to clean governance it is possible to ensure that the poor benefit from the delivery of basic services.
The following key findings are included in the 2013 SCFR:
- The City of Cape Town is the only metro in South Africa with unqualified audit reports over the past five years;
- The City of Cape Town has, over the past five years, consistently performed best when it comes to directing funding towards capital expenditure - providing job opportunities, stimulating economic growth and increasing its service delivery infrastructure - with a 190% increase in such expenditure since 2005;
- When it comes to the cost of basic service packages including electricity and water to residents, the City of Cape Town delivers services at a cheaper rate to the poorest households - over 30% cheaper than the average cost of such services in the ten cities included in the report;
- The poor living in the City of Cape Town pay less for basic services as a proportion of their monthly income than any of the other cities included in the report;
- To date the City of Cape Town is the only metro that has benefitted from certainty of funding for housing delivery, with the Western Cape being the only province that has gazetted the Human Settlements Development Grant allocation to the city; and
- Intergovernmental efficiencies between the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government have resulted in drastically quicker turnaround times for housing project approvals.