As the DA-led coalition moves towards March 2008 and the end of its second year of governing Cape Town, it continues to fight attempts to usurp the alliance in a turbulent political atmosphere that often overshadows the pressing delivery needs of the city.
Since taking power from the ANC after last year’s local government elections, the coalition government has fought off numerous attempts by the ANC to unseat it.
Having survived the September floor-crossing period, the city became embroiled in damaging allegations that it had paid private investigators to spy on councillors.
An acrimonious spat with controversial councillor and National People’s Party leader Badih Chaaban has dragged on for months and dominated headlines. Chaaban was vocal in his threats to topple the multiparty government during the floor-crossing period.
The roots of the political antagonism can be found in last year’s election results. Those elections returned the DA to the status of largest single party, taking 90 of the 210 seats on the council. The ANC came in second with 81 seats.
Without an outright majority to rule, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille wove together a multiparty government consisting of a mish-mash of coalition parties, including the Independent Democrats, African Christian Democratic Party, United Democratic Movement, Universal Party and Freedom Front Plus. This excluded the ANC from power.
The tentative nature of coalition politics generally means that even a slight shift in political allegiance could result in a change of power. Knowing this, the ANC made numerous attempts to drive a wedge into perceived weak points in the coalition.
While the cut and thrust of politics has dominated public attention, the delivery needs of the city remain pressing.
Cape Town has a population of more than three million people and faces a critical housing shortage, with 222 informal settlements and a total housing backlog believed to be in excess of 350Â 000.
On an infrastructure level, the city faces the challenges of a creaking public transport system and a lack of capacity in areas such as sewage treatment and refuse storage.
Compounding these problems is a shortage of skilled staff in key departments, such as housing.
In response to these challenges, the city established an integrated development plan for the period 2007 to 2012, which notes that while it has almost doubled in size in the past 20 years, the provision of new infrastructure has not kept up with growth and is in need of ‘urgent replacementâ€.
The plan focuses on the provision of municipal services, building administrative capacity and providing conditions for the economy to grow. It also sets out targets in these areas. For example, by 2012 the city wants to create 13Â 000 direct jobs a year, compared with the 7Â 000 currently created, and lure R3,6billion in investment a year compared with the current R2billion.
Zille cited as achievements of the city since last year a return to solvency, the opening of systems to public scrutiny and accountability and the installation of checks and balances to prevent corruption.
She said a coalition government was rarely as stable as a government where one party had a clear majority. ‘But I think we have been remarkably stable and able to concentrate on delivery, given the circumstances we face,†she said, adding that this could be judged on the basis of increased budget spend.
Zille said the city faced a shortage of skilled staff in various departments because of competition from the private sector and this had affected service delivery, but she said progress was made in staff recruitment and placement.
The city is recruiting staff to fill the key skilled positions required to spend the budget efficiently and there has been a ‘significant increase†in staff allocations. This will enable the city to meet spending targets because it will have the capacity to spend more than 90% of the budget in the current financial year.
According to an August progress report on Cape Town’s performance for the period July 2006 to June 2007, the city spent only 77% of the capital budget (R2billion). This was 13% short of the target, but in the 2003/04 financial year the city spent only 60% of its capital budget. In 2005/06 the figure was 71%.
The report says about 7 200 ‘housing opportunities†were delivered in the past year, up from the previous year’s 4 585 and up from 1 808 in 2003/04.
Zille identified housing as a challenge, but said it was impossible to build houses for everyone who needed them. Land is scarce and complicated procedures are required to release it.
The long-term plan to resolve the housing backlog is to upgrade as many informal settlements as possible, rather than moving people.
This means providing services such as water, electricity, sewerage and road access to communities.
Institute for Democracy in South Africa political researcher Jonathan Faull said that, as with any other major city in South Africa, Cape Town faces challenges around spatial development, public services, addressing the needs of its residents and infrastructure.
Faull said the politics of Cape Town in the past seven years has seen a turn-over of political power between the DA and ANC. This has caused each to bring in its own plans and has affected service delivery. The shortage of senior managers has affected the capacity to deliver services and morale, he said.
Faull said service delivery in the coalition government is an executive function and depends on the coalition working together. With the continuous battles for power, Zille has had to fight political fires instead of concentrating solely on what is needed in terms of service delivery.
Moegsien Hendricks, programme manager at the Development Action Group, an NGO working on housing and local development, said service delivery, in particular housing, is affected by the governance arrangement in Cape Town because there are two different levels of governance: the ANC-run province and the Cape Town-run DA.
‘Provincial governance provides the context in which development should take place and the city is responsible for implementing service delivery,†he said.
Hendricks said service delivery targets are often not met because there is no synergy between the province and the city.
He said although the city has increased its level of services, it has not changed levels of inequality. — West Cape News