Cape Town’s latest adjustment budget lays bare a city pulled in two directions: rewarded by the National Treasury for financial reform, yet under fire from opposition parties who argue that strong balance sheets are failing to translate into timely, equitable service delivery on the ground.
On Thursday the City of Cape Town tabled its adjustment budget in front of a council meeting, which includes a R401m injection from National Treasury funding.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said this recognises progress made in reforming the city’s Metro Trading Services, covering water, sanitation, electricity and waste.
Hill-Lewis said the allocation represents the first tranche of additional national support and will be channelled into various infrastructure projects across the metro.
“Our budgets are the most critical step in delivering on our pledges to the residents of Cape Town,” Hill-Lewis said, adding that the adjustment budget reflects mid-year changes to align spending with the pace and scope of projects already under way.
“This adjustment budget reflects changes made to our capital budget midway through the financial year to bring it in line with implementation realities, while ensuring the city’s finances remain sustainable.”
There is nothing that we will not do to improve the safety of Capetonians. We will investigate crime, train more officers, invest in technology, buy more vehicles and build whatever we must to make Cape Town safer
— Geordin Hill-Lewis, mayor of Cape Town
According to Hill-Lewis, the Treasury funding incentivises well-run, self-sustaining municipal utilities and will be immediately reinvested in infrastructure to strengthen basic services for residents.
“These funds are being injected directly into infrastructure projects to ensure even better services for Capetonians into the future.”
Key projects funded
Among the main projects benefiting from the adjustment are:
- R74m for electricity grid upgrades and system replacement;
- R35m for substations and medium-voltage infrastructure;
- R267m for water and sanitation projects, including automated metering infrastructure;
- R57m for additional stormwater upgrades in communities hardest hit by winter flooding;
- R46m for public swimming pool upgrades;
- R30m for maintenance and upgrades of community facilities;
- R11m brought forward for the Strandfontein Pavilion after work progressed ahead of schedule;
- R16m for additional vehicles for the city’s new Neighbourhood Safety Officers; and
- R45m to operationalise a new joint policing centre in Parow, aimed at improving inter-agency coordination between the city, SAPS and other partners
Hill-Lewis said the city would spare no effort in strengthening safety.
“There is nothing that we will not do to improve the safety of Capetonians. We will investigate crime, train more officers, invest in technology, buy more vehicles and build whatever we must to make Cape Town safer,” he said.
He also highlighted the N2 Edge project, which aims to improve safety, pedestrian access and dignity along the N2 corridor. The project includes
- new pedestrian crossings;
- improved lighting;
- access control;
- landscaping; and
- fire and flood mitigation.
Urban mobility’s budget has been increased by R7m this year for detailed design work, with a further R108m allocated in the 2027 financial year for construction.
GOOD Party rejects budget
The GOOD Party rejected the adjustment budget outright, however, arguing the city remains administratively dysfunctional despite its apparent financial strength. GOOD councillor Chad Davids said continued underspending on capital projects is a major concern.
“We are told budgets are record-breaking, yet clinics remain incomplete, fire stations are delayed, housing developments are stalled, roads are unfinished and community facilities are deteriorating,” he said.
Repeated roll-overs and deferred projects point to systemic failures rather than bad luck, he said. “Financial strength that cannot build houses or clinics is not strength; it is administrative paralysis.”
Davids also criticised what he described as revenue over-recovery, particularly from electricity tariffs, property rates and fines.
“This is being presented as a financial success. Let’s be honest about what it actually means: residents were overcharged, tariffs were misaligned with household incomes, and enforcement was intensified while unemployment is rising,” he said.
The same problems recur every year: underspending, procurement delays, rolled-over projects, widening service backlogs and rising household debt, with no serious plan to fix supply-chain failures, contract management or internal capacity constraints.
— Chad Davids, GOOD councillor
According to Davids, financial surpluses achieved through over-billing deepen inequality and hardship. “You cannot brag about a surplus while people are forced to choose between food and electricity. That is not fiscal discipline; that is regressive revenue extraction.”
He added that the city continues to approve above-inflation increases for electricity, water and property rates, despite widespread unemployment, rising household debt and growing informal settlements.
Davids argued that the adjustment budget prioritises what he called “security theatre” over addressing root causes such as poverty, unemployment, spatial inequality and failing infrastructure.
“While this adjustment budget meets the technical requirements of the MFMA [Municipal Financial Management Act], it is reactive, not corrective.
“The same problems recur every year: underspending, procurement delays, rolled-over projects, widening service backlogs and rising household debt, with no serious plan to fix supply-chain failures, contract management or internal capacity constraints.”
The budget reflects a city that is financially strong on paper but struggling to convert that position into equitable and effective service delivery, he added.
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