Grant Pascoe
The September 2025 Water and Sanitation Portfolio Committee agenda exposes a City in crisis under the DA and Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. The numbers are there in black and white, but the way they are presented hides the real story of failure in water and sanitation.
Billions Budgeted, Almost Nothing Spent
The City set aside R4.9 billion this year for new and upgraded projects. The agenda shows that by September only 8.3 percent of that budget had been spent. Bulk Services, the unit meant to deliver reservoirs and bulk mains, has spent only 1.8 percent of its R2.6 billion allocation. The agenda notes “commitments” of nearly R2 billion, but commitments are not delivery. They are contracts on paper, while projects on the ground remain stalled.
The operating budget tells the same story. Technical Services has overspent its overtime budget by 218 percent. The agenda frames this as a response to emergencies, but the truth is that the City is running a firefighting operation instead of a professional water service. Staff are overstretched, breakdowns are constant, and long-term planning has collapsed.
Revenue Collapse from Business and Industry
The most serious failure is in revenue. The agenda shows that businesses and industries are paying only 26 percent of what they owe. This is described as a “shortfall” but in reality it is a collapse. Households are keeping up with payments, but the City is losing hundreds of millions from commercial clients. This explains why projects are not moving and why contractors are not being paid.
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The Democratic Alliance claims that the City of Cape Town is a model of good governance. The September 2025 agenda shows the opposite. It shows a City where capital projects are stalled, operating budgets are blown, and commercial revenue is disappearing. The agenda’s language of “commitments” and “shortfalls” is meant to soften the facts, but the reality is a system that is failing.
Failing Leadership and a System in Crisis
The numbers cannot be spun. Under the watch of Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town’s water and sanitation system is sliding deeper into crisis. The Portfolio Committee should be demanding answers, not covering up the failures with careful wording.
