Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has released a scathing 292-page report concluding that the Democratic Alliance (DA)-led City of Cape Town (CoCT) failed to progressively provide basic services to residents in Langa Flats and Khayelitsha.
“The allegation that basic municipal services were not rendered in accordance with the Constitution, the Municipal Systems Act, and other applicable legislation is substantiated.”
The constitutional watchdog determined that the municipality’s conduct equates to maladministration, improper conduct, and prejudice.
Released on Tuesday, 07 July 2026, the findings pose a major challenge to the DA’s long-standing reputation of using its governed municipalities to set the national benchmark for service delivery. Instead, Gcaleka’s investigation details an environment where township residents have been forced to endure a “comprehensive violation of residents’ fundamental rights”.
The investigative report highlights severe delivery backlogs affecting residents in the N2 Gateway – Joe Slovo (Langa Flats) development and various settlements across Khayelitsha.
The systemic investigation was initially triggered by desperate community outcries during the Public Protector’s Annual Roadshows held on 7 March 2022 and between 17–21 April 2023. At these events, community members directly confronted the watchdog with proof of deteriorating living conditions and municipal neglect.
Amongst other things, Gcaleka’s report has laid bare the city’s failure to formalize lease agreements with residents at Langa Flats. The investigation, which spans years of oversight, concludes that this administrative gridlock has left vulnerable tenants in a state of constitutional limbo.
At the heart of the probe are the severe implications for residents’ housing rights. According to the watchdog’s findings, the CoCT’s inability to sign formal lease agreements severely impedes the state’s duty to progressively realize the right of access to adequate housing, as enshrined in Section 26(2) of the Constitution and Item 3.3.2 of the Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality Allocation Policy: Housing Opportunities, 2022 (Policy Number 11969).
The municipality’s ongoing failure to formalize these tenancies directly contravenes the Rental Housing Act, which legally mandates written lease agreements. Investigators noted that the lack of formal contracts undermines residents’ security of tenure—a right fiercely protected under Section 26 of the Constitution.
The report also found several critical infrastructure collapses, including: widespread breakdowns of portable ablution facilities, overflowing toilets, and broken drainage gullies; inadequate and poorly maintained public standpipes, leaving entire blocks without reliable drinking water, and persistent failure to ensure clean, safe, and hygienic living conditions as mandated by the Bill of Rights.
“The CoCT has not been able to fully repair the sewer infrastructure at Langa Flats, fire rails and cracked housing unit walls and common areas are still untidy violating the residents’ rights to an environment that is not harmful to their well-being as envisaged in section 24(a) of the Constitution read with item 7.2.2.1 of the City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Policy of 2023.
“The failure by CoCT to repair and maintain fire safety equipment has a direct bearing on the constitutional rights to life, dignity and adequate housing under sections 11, 10, and 26 of the Constitution,” states her report.
The City’s systemic failure to maintain basic infrastructure extends beyond water deprivation into severe safety hazards. At the heart of the community’s security crisis is the municipality’s prolonged inability to repair broken high-mast lights within the settlement.
By leaving the area cloaked in darkness, the local government routinely exposes residents to extreme risks of overnight violence and criminal targeting.
Compounding these local failures is a critical breakdown in intergovernmental relations and planning. The city allegedly failed to engage with the national power utility, Eskom, prior to orchestrating the relocation of residents to the SST-Marikana site.
“By relocating residents without facilitating engagement with Eskom to ensure service continuity, CoCT breached its positive duties under sections 152(1)(b) and (d) of the Constitution to ensure sustainable service provision and to promote safe and healthy environments.”
The watchdog has issued binding remedial actions, requiring the City of Cape Town to implement urgent interventions. Furthermore, Gcaleka has called on the Ministers of Finance, Human Settlements, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to assess whether intergovernmental funding frameworks are adequately supporting municipalities facing extensive infrastructure backlogs and surging service delivery demands.
Gcaleka has directed Minister, Enoch Godongwana to collaborate within six months with the Minister for Human Settlements, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Western Cape government, and the City of Cape Town. This is to determine if national equitable share allocations and funding models adequately assist municipalities dealing with severe infrastructure backlogs and informal settlements.
