Cape Town says it beat its taps and toilets targets, and the opposition calls it electioneering

Cape Town installed 815 new taps and 6,505 new toilets across more than 100 informal settlements in the 2025/26 financial year, exceeding its own targets of 750 taps and 4,500 toilets, the City said in a statement this week. Opposition parties responded by calling the announcement electioneering, three days out from a poll that has made basic services the fight.

As IOL reported on 30 September, the figures were released as the City campaigns for the 4 November local government elections, and GOOD and the ANC say they do not reflect conditions on the ground.

The City says the work forms part of its Informal Settlements and Basic Services branch, and that the figures bring its total rollout to 69,194 toilets and 10,101 taps across 848 informal settlements. It says more than 20,375 households have new access to clean water and more than 15,193 households have improved sanitation services. It attributes the overshoot to requests from newly established informal settlements and the replacement of pre-fabricated toilets that had reached the end of their lifespan.

Water and Sanitation Mayoral Committee Member Zahid Badroodien visited Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay with Ward 74 councillor Roberto Quintas, where the City says R1.8 million was invested in 110 new flush toilets and 34 taps. Badroodien said access to clean water and safe sanitation was fundamental to the dignity and quality of life of residents, and that the City recognised the difficulty of delivering and maintaining infrastructure in these communities.

GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron was blunt about the scale. “I would not be bragging about 800 taps and 6,000 toilets when there are almost 300,000 structures in informal settlements in Cape Town,” he said, describing the numbers as “too little too late” and “a drop in the ocean” for a population he estimated at nearly a million or more. Herron also said the Public Protector had recently found the City was dishonest in saying it had supplied taps in SST-Marikana and Khayelitsha.

ANC regional chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said the City was using municipal reporting to profile the DA. “What is on paper is not exactly the same thing as what is felt by the people in informal settlements,” he said, pointing to Langa.

The City has allocated R44 million to the ISBS for 2026/27, with installations planned in Gugulethu, Delft, Khayelitsha, Blue Downs, Philippi, Hout Bay, Kraaifontein, Langa, Bloekombos, Strandfontein, Nyanga and Dunoon.

Source: IOL, ‘A drop in the ocean’: Opposition slams City’s taps, toilets figures