Cape Town’s DA-led administration faced a barrage of criticism over housing, crime and allegations of racism during an IOL town hall mayoral debate on Thursday, with seven rival parties challenging deputy mayor Eddie Andrews on the City’s record ahead of the November 4 local government elections.
The debate, held at the Portside Building in Cape Town, saw opposition representatives question the City’s housing policies, proposed N2 safety wall and newly launched SWAT unit. Andrews defended the DA’s record, arguing that Cape Town had created more affordable housing opportunities than any other metro.
DA faces racism allegations over housing policies
When asked directly whether the DA was racist, Andrews answered “no”, while some audience members shouted “yes”.
GOOD Party mayoral candidate Brett Herron argued that the City’s policy allowing property owners to build affordable rental units in 194 designated neighbourhoods reinforced apartheid-era spatial divisions.
“This particular policy around the affordable rental units is racist because of where the affordable housing rental units as of right can be built, and they cannot be built where I live,” Herron said.
He cited Westlake as an example of a densely populated community with small houses and narrow roads where residents were expected to build multiple rental units.
Andrews said the programme began in areas where homes had been built with government grants, with assessments determining how many units each property could accommodate. He added that rental prices were controlled.
“It is the only plan in the country that is able to respond to informality,” Andrews said.
“Ask any of these panelists here, whether in coalition government, if they have a plan there. They don’t.”
Herron also criticised the City’s record on inner-city housing, saying Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis had told the Western Cape High Court in an affidavit this month that the long-promised Pine Road and Dillon Lane social housing projects in Woodstock were being cancelled. Andrews had named both sites as part of the City’s plans shortly before Herron raised the issue.
Herron said the City’s inclusionary housing policy, which would require developers to contribute to affordable housing, had remained unadopted since 2018. Andrews said the policy would return to council early next year.
Opposition parties challenge housing plans
Housing was a major point of contention throughout the debate.
EFF representative Virgil Gericke accused the DA of using policies that excluded black and coloured businesses from City contracts.
“The DA is a racist party. Undoubtedly so. You can see it in their policies,” Gericke said.
“When it comes to tenders, they were writing the criteria in a tender that a coloured or a black contractor does not have.”
Gericke promised to reduce the City’s housing waiting list, estimated at between 500,000 and 600,000 people, to almost zero within five years. He said the EFF would audit land, lift the urban edge restricting housing development on farmland near the City’s borders, expropriate land without compensation and offer houses on 99-year leases.
Andrews argued that building beyond the urban edge would require new services and infrastructure, with the cost falling on ratepayers. He also defended the City’s tender criteria, saying they were designed to achieve specific outcomes.
National Coloured Congress representative Fadiel Adams compared subsidised housing in Bloemfontein with housing in Cape Town, saying a house in Bloemfontein measured 48 square metres on a 300-square-metre plot, compared with 24 square metres on a 60-square-metre plot in Cape Town.
“So yes, it’s easy to build more when you’re building crap,” Adams said.
“If for the same housing subsidy you can build a superior house, I don’t care which sphere of government is building it.”
Adams also claimed housing projects in Tafelsig and Beacon Valley had been cancelled. He questioned law enforcement staffing levels in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha and raised concerns about a forensic report into cancelled staircase repair contracts at Cape Flats council flats.
Andrews disputed the claim about law enforcement deployment, saying every member carried a tracking device. He said the forensic matter was under investigation.
N2 safety wall and SWAT unit come under fire
The City’s planned N2 safety wall and its new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit also drew criticism.
The wall forms part of the City’s R114 million N2 Edge Safety Project, a proposed 9km stretch along the N2 near Cape Town International Airport. Hill-Lewis announced the project in the City’s adjustment budget in January.
Herron said the wall was an attempt to hide a community that had lived in the area for 40 years. He also said GOOD would scrap the bylaw used to fine people occupying public land.
“The SWAT team, if you’ve seen the vehicles, they look like the Casspirs from the apartheid era,” Herron said.
“Throwing toys and money and drones and these vehicles at the Cape Flats and townships is the militarisation of communities that are being policed to stay in poverty.”
Casspirs were armoured vehicles used by the apartheid police and army to enter townships and suppress unrest during the 1980s.
Andrews said the South African Police Service had cut its deployment in Cape Town by just over 1,300 members. He also said fewer than five out of every 100 guns taken off the streets resulted in a conviction.
“So the gangsters are living their best lives because they are not successfully prosecuted,” Andrews said.
“That resource is part of our broader safety response in the city of Cape Town. We want to fight for the safety of every single ward.”
The City launched its SWAT unit on October 7, saying it would support SAPS in tackling gang violence, extortion and hostage situations.
ANC, Al Jama-ah and Afrika Mayibuye criticise City
ANC representative Faiez Jacobs said the party would repeal bylaws under which homeless people and those occupying public land were fined.
“The DA are constitutional delinquents,” Jacobs said.
“They act in an unconstitutional way. Now we as Capetonians must use our majority to kick them out of the city council.”
Jacobs said Cape Town needed 30,000 to 40,000 houses a year and called for an inquiry into alleged tender and housing collusion. He compared the N2 wall to an open prison and called for the City’s R5.1 billion, 20-year deal to buy power from an independent producer to be scrapped.
Andrews responded that the court had ruled only on how the City’s tariffs were linked to property values. He said the City had accepted the ruling and increased rebates for poorer households.
Al Jama-ah representative Shameemah Dollie Salie criticised the quality of subsidised housing, alleging that some new homes had cracked walls and leaking roofs.
“An honest run city of Cape Town would give effect and say there is problems with our contractors and builders and with our houses,” Salie said.
“What type of houses are you actually building that lacks the dignity of our people?”
She also questioned the powers of the SWAT unit and argued that poorer areas bore the burden of densification while Constantia and Bishopscourt were spared.
Afrika Mayibuye Movement representative Nosipho Makamba accused the DA of keeping communities in two separate worlds and urged voters to deny the party a majority. The movement’s slogan is “jobs, water and service delivery now”.
City funding and clean audit questioned
Audience members also questioned Andrews about R200,000 in public money allocated to a foundation linked to a church and the City’s loss of its clean audit for 2024/25 over procurement problems.
Andrews said the foundation was a registered non-profit organisation that had applied for a City grant through the subcouncil. He said he was not a member of the organisation.
Parties make final election pitches
In his closing statement, Andrews said the DA wanted to create 500,000 jobs and would continue pushing for policing powers to support SAPS.
“We will continue to be the number one city to produce those housing opportunities in the country,” Andrews said.
“And we ask that you cast your vote for us on November 4.”
Build One SA representative Roger Solomons said it would take 157 years to clear the housing backlog at the DA’s current rate. He promised 10,000 housing opportunities a year, an end to municipal business licences for small businesses and a capped commuter ticket.
“Cape Town should be one of the easiest cities in the world to live in and to build a good life,” Solomons said.
“Right now, Capetonians are in survival mode.”
IOL