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Overview
Map
Transcript
Pre-agenda
Chamber conduct and security officers
Farewell tributes to Chief Whip
Councillor of the Year 2026 award
Question on electricity costs
End-of-term arrangements and recess
Question on houses at Pinelands depot
Question on inter-metro jobs comparison
Question on jobs breakdown
Question on population growth and megacity plans
Mayor's final-term address
Agenda
1. Confirmation of previous minutes
1. Adjustments budget 2026/27
2. SANRAL radio trunking contract
3. Invasive alien plants clearing
4. Auction of erven in Thornton
5. Street transfer Bordeaux Ave Constantia
6. Servitude over Erf 1034 Hout Bay
7. Public place transfer Simon's Town
8. Street transfer Auber Ave Mandalay
9. Closure of Erf 175151 Seawinds
10. Public place closure Elsies River
11. Engineering professional services contract
12. Independent power producer programme
13. IT service management solution
1. Council's system of delegations
2. Post-retirement medical aid realignment
3. ICLEI membership continuation
4. Street transfer Marston Rd Diep River
5. Street transfer Rushmore Way Tokai
6. Haven Night Shelter demolition Bellville
7. Long-distance bus terminus Stikland
8. Erf transfer Durbanville
9. Erf transfer Kraaifontein
10. Public passage transfer Gordon's Bay
11. Public place transfer Somerset West
12. Erf transfer Somerset Heights
13. Public place transfer Glencairn
14. Atlantis Thusong Centre donation
15. Street closure Kobodi St Philippi
16. City land use Claremont school
17. Voortrekker Road upgrade Maitland
18. Water reuse and desalination advisory
19. Loeries Creative Week support
20. Business support policy
21. Performance management policy
1. Municipal planning amendment by-law
1. Freight management strategy
2. Road safety strategy
3. Atlantis SEZ debt remission
4. City land use Goodwood Mall
5. Friends of the Library agreements
6. WCEDP grant budget virement
1. Remuneration policy
2. Human settlements professionals contract
3. One Young World Summit funding
4. Eskom water abstraction agreement
5. Traffic fine receivables virement
1. CCID city land lease
2. Cannons Creek school land lease Pinelands
1. Mixed use development Mitchells Plain
2. Mixed-income development Goodwood/Parow/Bellville
3. Vasco da Gama FC land lease Parow
1. Alderman/Alderwoman title conferment
2. Belhar Drive renaming
3. Eendrag Park renaming
4. Community Services committee report
5. Corporate Services committee report
6. Energy committee report
7. Finance committee report
8. Future Planning committee report
9. Human Settlements committee report
10. Innovation committee report
11. Safety and Security committee report
12. Spatial Planning committee report
13. Urban Mobility committee report
14. Urban Waste Management committee report
15. Water and Sanitation committee report
16. MPAC annual report
1. Question from Cllr Cottee
1. Future Planning Q4 progress report
2. SPVs and Wesgro annual report
3. Cape Town water outlook June 2026
4. Executive Mayor's resolutions
5. MPAC quarterly report
6. MPAC meeting minutes
7. Supply chain management report
8. SCM regulation 36 report

City of Cape Town Council

Meeting 20/08/2026

Notifications MCP

Subjects

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BEFORE AGENDA, from 00:00:00
AGENDA, from 01:15:34

Budget & Economy

Adjustments budget 2026/27

Agenda #1August 20, 20264 speakers · 19 minutes

19′

minutes

GOOD2′

Economic Freedom Fighters2′

African National Congress2′

Democratic Alliance0′

Summary

AI-generated text

The Council considers the August 2026 adjustments budget for 2026/27, a rollover of unspent capital funding together with grant adjustments and administrative transfers. The MayCo member reports that the adjusted capital programme rises to approximately R13.375 billion with a R288 million increase and that R31.9 million from the capital replacement reserve provides interim funding for conditional grant projects while national and provincial rollover approvals are awaited. Councillor Simons (DA) frames it as continuity for roads, electricity, transport, environmental and community projects, while opposition parties attack the underspending and priorities.

Main issues

Whether rollovers reflect prudent financial management or chronic underspending that denies services to poor, African and coloured communities
Priorities of the budget, with NCC arguing that money is found overnight for projects but not for struggling residents facing tariff hikes
Delivery failures flagged by opposition in Urban Mobility projects, informal settlements, taxi ranks and sanitation, and the ANC's claim that 9 out of 10 households in Cape Town go to bed without food

An adjustments budget is a mid-year amendment to a municipality's approved annual budget. In South Africa it is governed by the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal Budget and Reporting Regulations. These rules allow a municipality to roll over unspent capital funds from the previous year, adjust conditional grant allocations, and ratify administrative transfers (virements). Rollovers of grant-funded projects normally need National and Provincial Treasury approval. Until that approval comes, a city can use its own reserves as interim funding. The City approved R31.9 million from surplus funds to finance incomplete projects from the previous financial year, pending Treasury approval. No provision had been made for these projects in the 2026/27 capital budget.

The August adjustment follows a large original budget. The 2026/27 budget cut property rates and kept tariff increases closer to inflation, following last year's backlash and ongoing legal challenges to the tariff structure. Its capital budget has more than doubled over the current term to over R13 billion. A Western Cape High Court judgment of 30 April 2026 also forced material amendments to the rate and tariff structure. That background explains the sensitivity around tariffs and affordability.

Spending priorities are contested, and rollovers are often read as a sign of delivery capacity. A later adjustment budget is also relevant. Council approved it with an additional R6 million for flood-damaged community facilities. It also moved R146m within Water and Sanitation to address fleet replacement backlogs.

Statements(8)

AI-generated text

Unknown Speaker 23

The adjustment budget ensures that roads, electricity infrastructure, transport projects, environmental programs, and community facilities continue without interruption across financial years. Cape Town has created over 400,000 jobs and invested up to R12 billion annually in infrastructure, in contrast to ANC and PA-led municipalities where services have collapsed. When procurement or contractor delays affect project timing, the city's response is to adjust budgets responsibly so that projects can still be delivered, demonstrating prudent financial management through interim funding arrangements. The budget contains approximately R288 million in capital amendments to keep projects moving, including MyCiTi, battery energy storage, solar initiatives, and electricity upgrades — evidence of disciplined finances and service delivery that the adjustment budget deserves council's support.

Unknown Speaker 24

While the NCC supports this recommendation, there are serious concerns about priorities. The city can find R31.9 million from reserves overnight to protect projects, yet residents are told there is no money and that tariffs must go up. When projects are at risk, money is found, but there is no equivalent urgency for families living in poverty in overcrowded informal settlements, choosing between food and electricity. A budget is not just numbers but a statement of values, and those values must put people before balances.

SM

Siyabulela MamkeliGOOD

The broken microphones in the chamber are an example of a failing government under the DA. The projects in this adjustment budget illustrate delivery failures — some stalled, some incomplete, some abandoned. The Auditor General's findings on supply chain management, procurement, tenders, and contract management have a direct impact on service delivery. This is clearly visible in the Urban Mobility Directorate, where the city's own adjustment budget acknowledges delays caused by contractor failures, procurement delays, and capacity constraints, with projects such as road rehabilitation in Manenberg, Bonteheuwel, Athlone, and the Mfuleni taxi rank upgrade all delayed. Communities cannot wait indefinitely while budgets remain unspent and projects are rolled over — residents are asking for basic proper roads, access to water, sanitation, and electricity.

SS

Siphelo SikolisiEconomic Freedom Fighters

The DA has been running this metropolitan on Zoom to avoid accountability and prevent the EFF from asking questions on behalf of Cape Town residents. Hostels dating back to apartheid have seen no maintenance, no service delivery, and sewer is all over the place. This is a government with no plan and no solution to the challenges facing our people, whose primary activity is selling municipal-owned land. Under an EFF government, there would be transparent allocation of houses, flushing toilets even in informal settlements, and local industrialisation to create jobs and develop land. The Mayor's claims of progress are imagination.

MD

Mzubanzi DambuzaEconomic Freedom Fighters

Raises a point of order on Rule 32, 1.1, requesting the Speaker to provide protection from interjections and to apply naming rules equally to DA councillors who heckled the EFF but were not named. The DA councillors started heckling against the EFF, and the Speaker did not name even one, while EFF members were named — an unequal application of the rules.

Unknown Speaker 27

The DA-led administration wants to roll over millions that were not spent, but there are no fundamental deterrents that prevented the city from executing its obligation to service the people. The unspent items come predominantly from African and coloured communities, which are poor, revealing a lack of political will. Behind the jargon of budget adjustment are people's lives that were supposed to be changed for the better — failed projects include electrification, road construction, library upgrades, sports facilities, homeless accommodation, taxi ranks, stormwater systems, toilets and taps. As a result, families were kept in the dark, children deprived of opportunities to read and play, and informal settlement residents denied their constitutional right to health, safety, and dignity. The city claims it has no bucket system toilets, which is an insult to people living in informal settlements in Philippi.

NT

Ndithini Tyhido

The adjustment budget should move money to service the people, but the Mayor's statistics referred people to Google rather than addressing food insecurity — 9 out of 10 households in Cape Town go to bed without food. The safety and security department had 47 elements of undelivered promises, and the issues promised to Capetonians relating to making Cape Town safe have not happened. The adjustment budget should push back the legacies of apartheid spatial planning, but Capetonians live in two different Cape Towns — the city's reports never answer which Cape Town they refer to. Sewer spillages persist despite good intentions, because good kindness alone is not sufficient to stop the sewer in people's houses. The ANC has been a responsible opposition but will not help the DA further discriminate and disservice the people of Cape Town.

Unknown Speaker 29

The primary purpose of this adjustment budget is to roll over unspent capital funding from 2025/2026, allowing committed projects to continue, with no detrimental impact on the provision of basic services. The adjusted capital programme amounts to approximately R13.375 billion, an increase of R288 million from the original budget. Over the MTREF period, 56.9% of capital investment goes to basic services and a further 14.9% to transport. To keep projects moving, R31.9 million from the capital replacement reserve provides interim funding for conditional grant projects while national and provincial rollover approvals are awaited. Ongoing investments include the IRT Phase 2A programme, energy services, community facilities, parks, sports infrastructure, and road stormwater projects. Council is moved to adopt the August 2026 adjustment budget together with associated IDP financial plan amendments.

The discussion

19′

minutes

GOOD2′

Economic Freedom Fighters2′

African National Congress2′

Democratic Alliance0′

4 speakers · 4 parties

Decision

No decision from Diavgeia has been linked to this subject yet.