Cape Town budget faces scrutiny over public participation and spending priorities

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Cape Town’s R87.71 billion budget is facing scrutiny over whether public participation gives small businesses and informal traders a meaningful say in how the city spends its money, with critics questioning whether feedback from residents and businesses translates into changes to municipal spending priorities.

While the City of Cape Town says residents and businesses can scrutinise its draft budget and submit feedback before it is adopted, critics argue that the effectiveness of the process should be measured by its influence on final decisions, rather than the number of public meetings held.

GOOD Party councillor Sandra Dickson acknowledged that the City had formal public participation processes and regularly engaged business leaders on economic priorities. However, she questioned whether smaller businesses and informal traders had the same level of organised representation and access.

During the 2026/27 budget process, Dickson raised concerns that public meetings focused largely on service delivery complaints rather than detailed scrutiny of budget allocations, rates and tariffs.

She also questioned the time allowed for public comment following a High Court ruling, saying substantial budget amendments were opened for further public comment for only two weeks.

“Public participation should be measured not by how many meetings are held, but by how many submissions actually influence decisions,” Dickson said.

She called on the City to disclose which business organisations had been consulted, what they had requested and which budget decisions had changed as a result.

In a partial response, Mayoral Committee Member for Finance Alderman Siseko Mbandezi said the draft budget was tabled at City Council each year in March, allowing residents and businesses to inspect the documents and submit feedback through various platforms.

He said the process included in-person and online presentations across the metro, where residents could engage with officials and ask questions about the budget.

Feedback and comments were recorded, reviewed and considered before the final budget was adopted by Council ahead of the new financial year, which begins on July 1.

The City approved a budget of R87.71 billion for the 2026/27 financial year in June 2026.

Mbandezi said most of the capital budget was allocated to core infrastructure services that directly affected residents, particularly those who were less fortunate.

These included water, sanitation, electricity, solid waste, human settlements, transport, roads and stormwater projects.

He said the operating budget covered ongoing expenses such as salaries, repairs, maintenance and general expenditure, as well as services including health, transport and roads, libraries, parks, electricity and water.

However, former City councillor and community activist Paul Jacobson questioned whether municipal economic decisions drew sufficiently on expertise outside the City’s financial department.

“Instead of the City engaging with businessmen and making the correct decisions, they still rely on their own financial department to make decisions,” he said.

Jacobson, who previously served in the economic growth portfolio, also questioned whether councillors overseeing municipal portfolios had sufficient understanding of the areas under their responsibility.

He argued that decisions affecting Cape Town’s long-term economic prospects required a stronger grasp of economics.

“As an economist, I used to sit here and say, ‘OMG, you are making these decisions that are going to affect the longevity of Cape Town, and in many cases South Africa, but in Cape Town, you guys have got no economic understanding of these decisions,’” he said.

Professor Andre Duvenhage, research director at North-West University, said local government did not necessarily have to rely exclusively on its own capacity to deliver services and manage municipal responsibilities.

He said private sector involvement could be necessary when municipalities lacked the capacity or financial resources to meet growing demands.

Different governance models, including public-private partnerships and private contractors appointed through tenders, could help address these challenges, he said.

However, Duvenhage cautioned that how such arrangements were implemented remained important.

“I have no specific problem with any model in theory. However, I have a serious problem with the way it is sometimes implemented,” he said.

Duvenhage also said municipalities could face limitations in raising sufficient revenue to provide adequate services, particularly in areas experiencing rapid population growth.