City's R36.8bn budget slated for deepening inequality

CAPE Town's R36.8 billion 2024/25 capital budget has been hailed by the City as a record-breaking investment in infrastructure and future-readiness.

- HOPE NTANZI

But critics argue that beneath the impressive graphics and modern catch-phrases lies a deeply unequal plan that entrenches apartheid-era spatial and economic divides.

Faiez Jacobs, former MP and local governance and inclusive development advisor, argues that Cape Town's budget is not failing; it is succeeding selectively, serving the affluent while sidelining the poor.

He described the City’s strategy as a “green gentrification” project cloaked in smart city and sustainability language.

“Budgets reveal priorities,’ he said, “and this one reveals a City that is still hostile to the poor, performative to the public, and generous to the privileged”.

His sector-by-sector analysis highlights what he calls systemic exclusion: inner-city social housing projects remain unfunded, township electrification is under-resourced, sanitation in informal settlements is largely ignored, and most major transport and ICT upgrades are concentrated in wealthy, already-connected areas.