Grant Pascoe
The reports tabled before the Human Settlements Portfolio Committee on 2 October 2025 tear apart the DA’s claim of delivery in Cape Town. Under Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and MMC for Human Settlements Carl Pophaim, billions in budgets are idle, projects are years behind schedule and the leadership posts needed to fix them are vacant. Aloe Ridge is now pushed to 2026 and 2027. Gugulethu stretches to 2028. Informal settlement upgrades remain underspent. Beneficiaries are left with broken promises. The closer one looks, the more glaring the DA’s failure.
The Financial Monitoring Report (Agenda Item 08) shows a capital budget of R1.351 billion. By August only 10 percent was spent. Public Housing recorded just 0.2 percent against a 4.2 percent target. Informal Settlements spent 5.2 percent against 11.9 percent. The only line ahead of target was land acquisition at 35.2 percent against 2.3 percent. That is not housing delivery, it is paper performance while communities remain in shacks.
Illegal Occupations Persist While Beneficiaries Wait
The Progress Report for Aloe Ridge (Agenda Item 09) records that the contractor was fired in June 2025 and confirms that no serviced sites or units will be delivered this year. A replacement appointment may only be on-site in January 2026 and the northern site will only begin in 2027. The budget has already been shifted to Greenville. Families promised homes at Aloe Ridge are left waiting.
The same agenda item shows Gugulethu Infill under strain. While 283 units have been handed over, 112 are already illegally occupied and only 38 occupiers agreed to vacate. The next 420 units will not start until the end of 2025 and will only be completed in 2028. Beneficiaries will wait years while others move in illegally.
Vacant Manager Posts Remain Unfilled
The Vacancy Analysis (Agenda Item 11) presented to the Committee explains why delivery stalls. The City claims a vacancy rate of 5.32 percent but the key positions are empty. The Head of Engineering Services to Informal Settlements has been vacant for 23 months. The Manager of Operations and Maintenance in Public Housing has been vacant for 47 months. These are the roles required to unblock projects yet under Hill-Lewis and Pophaim they remain unfilled.
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The DA cannot hide behind clean audits and headline percentages. The official reports before the Human Settlements Portfolio Committee show the truth about the DA’s housing failure. Projects are collapsing, budgets are underspent and critical posts remain vacant. For families waiting for homes, the evidence is in black and white. Under Hill-Lewis and Pophaim the DA has failed them.
