Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has received some praise from the city’s opposition party and civil society after her first year in office – but they agree the administration needs to start delivering on its biggest election promises.
She has received mixed reactions on her first year in office.
Political analyst Zwelethu Jolobe said De Lille’s biggest challenge might still lie ahead – in balancing the politics of the ID and the DA in the city council.
The ANC said that while De Lille had “good ideas”, they were yet to see any follow-up.
Xolani Sotashe, the ANC chief whip in the council, pointed to the city’s huge drive for infrastructure-led development. Yet, he said, the administration was not spending the multibillion-rand budget for its biggest capital projects.
“We have seen in the last year the underspending on capital projects. If you want to invest in infrastructure, you must be able to spend the funds aggressively. And in our view, we have not seen a change.”
Jolobe, who is also a politics lecturer at UCT, said it was too early to do a proper assessment of De Lille’s performance. “It’s hard to assess a person on their first year; there’s a limit to what one can achieve.”
Midway through her five-year term, there would be a more accurate picture on how De Lille had delivered on her goals, he said.
Cape Argus