Statement by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town,
Alderman Patricia de Lille
Community survey shows improvement in service
delivery
The City of Cape Town recently received the findings of the 2012/13
Community Satisfaction Survey conducted by TNS on behalf of the City.
The survey measures public perceptions of the City’s delivery of services
across the metro.
Cape Town is one of a few municipalities in the country that uses
independent research to measure community satisfaction with the City’s
performance annually. We do this as part of our commitment to building a
Well-run City that is responsive to the needs of our citizens.
It is heartening that the findings of the survey for the last five consecutive
years reflect an increasing level of satisfaction with the City’s service
delivery efforts by both residents and business.
The average rating on the Likert scale for the overall performance of the
City by residents increased from 2,6 in 2008/9 and 2009/10, to 2,7 in
2010/11 and 2011/12, to reach 2,9 in 2012/13.
All sub-districts showed an improvement in assessing the overall
performance of the City, except for the northern district which registered
a slight decline.
In the Metro South-East, which includes Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha,
satisfaction with the overall performance of the City has steadily
increased since 2008/9. This is clear evidence that sustained investment
in these areas is leading to tangible improvements in the quality of
services provided to residents.
Also given the importance of the private sector to help create jobs, it is
pleasing that the average rating for the overall performance of the City by
business increased from 3,0 in 2008/9 to 3,3 in 2011/12 to 3,4 in
2012/13.
Below is a summary of the 2012/13 survey results.
Residents Survey
Overall perceptions 2012/13:
69% of residents said that, overall, the City of Cape Town’s performance
was good, very good or excellent (up from 63% in 2011/12, 62% in
2010/11, 57% in 2009/10 and 54% in 2008/9).
City as a service provider 2012/13:
69% of residents rate the City of Cape Town as good, very good or
excellent in fulfilling its role as a public service provider (up from 62% in
2011/12 and 2010/11, 58% in 2009/10 and 54% in 2008/9).
Trust in the City 2012/13:
74% of residents rate their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as fairly
strong, very strong or extremely strong (up from 69% in 2011/12, 66%
in 2010/11 and 2009/10 and 61% in 2008/9).
Areas of strength that have emerged from the 2012/13 residents’
survey include:
 Essential services remain a relative area of strength for the City
overall for both residents and business; particularly refuse
collection, and the provision of water, sewerage and sanitation.
 Library services continue to be one of the highest rated services by
residents even though there has been a small decline in the past
year.
 The score for the visible presence of traffic enforcement on roads
has improved in the past year.
 Environment and conservation scores continue to show a significant
improvement since 2008/9. Overall, nature reserve scores have
shown a significant improvement in the past year, as well as
preserving Cape Town’s heritage sites and heritage resources and
providing facilities for recycling waste material.
 Overall Fire and Emergency services scores have improved
significantly since 2008/9 and in the past year.
 The overall health score by residents has improved significantly
since 2008/9 and in last year, with all the attributes increasing
significantly in the last year.
 Public transport scores have shown improvement by residents since
2008/9. In particular the provision of safe, affordable, reliable and
punctual public transport has increased significantly in the past
year.
Focus areas that have emerged from the 2012/13 residents’
survey include:
 An area that continues to require some attention is road
maintenance as this is seen as a high priority by residents.
 The survey also noted residents’ concerns about the affordability of
water and electricity.
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The enforcement of by-laws, illegal dumping and illegal land
settlement has again been identified as being important to
residents.
Residents have expressed the view that the area of human
settlements must be strengthened, with the overall score remaining
unchanged in 2012/13.
Overall, residents’ main priority focus areas for Cape Town remain job
creation, crime prevention, and housing. Fighting corruption is still seen
as a priority and this year was rated as the fourth highest priority.
Business Survey
Overall perceptions 2012/13:
87% of businesses said that, overall, the City of Cape Town’s
performance was good, very good or excellent (up from 84% in 2011/12,
80% in 2010/11 and 77% in both 2009/10 and 2008/9).
City as a service provider 2012/13:
89% of businesses rate the performance of the City of Cape Town in
fulfilling its role as a provider of municipal services as good, very good or
excellent (up from 83% in 2011/12, 81% in 2010/11, 77% in 2009/10
and 75% in 2008/9).
Trust in the City 2012/13:
87% of businesses rated their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as
fairly strong, very strong or extremely strong (up from 84% in 2011/12,
81% in 2010/11, 80% in 2009/10 and 78% in 2008/9).
Areas of strength that have emerged from the 2012/3 Business
Survey are as follows:
 The City is perceived by businesses in Cape Town as doing
particularly well when it comes to providing essential services
(water, refuse collection, sanitation, roads and lighting), with scores
generally remaining stable relative to 2011/12 and increasing
significantly since 2008/9.
 Ensuring that the roads around businesses are regularly maintained
and potholes are fixed has shown improvement since 2008/9;
however this is still one of the high priority areas for improvement.
 Emergency and Fire and Rescue services were added to the
business survey for the first time in 2012/13 and received the
highest scores in the entire business survey.
 The City continues to be rated well by business with regard to
billings and payments and refuse being regularly removed from
places of work.
 Law enforcement has improved since 2008/9 and there has also
been a significant perceived improvement in the safety of the
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environment in which businesses operate and adequate measures
being in place to address corruption in the City in the past year.
There has also been a marked improvement since 2011/12 for the
following categories: “there being a visible presence of Metro Police
in your area of business” and “controlling illegal street trading”.
There has been a significant improvement in most of the scores of
businesses in interacting with the City since 2008/9. “The
submission of forms and applications being simple and efficient” is
the highest scoring attribute in the interaction of businesses with
the City.
Focus areas that have emerged from the 2012/13 business survey
are:
 Ensuring that roads around businesses are regularly maintained and
potholes are fixed is one of the high priority areas from business for
improvement.
 For businesses, acting on noise complaints and the safety of the
environment in which they operate is a high priority area, with
safety and security remaining a top-of-mind concern for business
people.
 Businesses also noted that enabling and improving affordable public
transport as being a high priority area.
 Another area of importance noted from the business survey is the
availability of call centre operators who can deal with their queries
or, if not, transfer them to someone who can. Improving reaction
time to reported issues and the ease with which they can be
reported are also key factors for businesses.
Safety and security remains a priority concern for business. Electricity
tariffs being affordable and water costs being charged at reasonable rates
continue to remain concerns for businesses in Cape Town.
The 2012/13 survey results are encouraging as both residents and
businesses rate the City’s services and performance highly and indicate
that it continues to improve.
The City will use these survey results to inform and refine the planning
and implementation of municipal services across the metro. We will
continue to do everything we can to meet the commitments expressed in
the Integrated Development Plan, the Economic Growth Strategy and the
Social Development Strategy to build the Opportunity City, Safe City,
Caring City, Well-run City and Inclusive City that we want Cape Town to
be.
These results will also be used by the leadership and management of the
City to enhance service delivery where improvements are needed and to
guide operational planning and implementation.