The DA has the best track record of service delivery where we govern. Find out more about our pro-poor budget spending, job creation and effective service delivery strategies by clicking ‘View more’ below.

Governance Policy

DA’s 15 Ministries Plan

As Government in the Western Cape, our role is to facilitate opportunities for citizens so that they can take the pathway out of poverty.  This is a combination of many inputs, from the state and its institutions, to communities, families and individuals themselves.

A critical component of this philosophy is that citizens recognise that they are active partners in development and not doomed to be permanently dependent on state handouts.  Our government’s primary focus is on reducing poverty. If we were able to implement all our policies, starting with the national government, we believe the majority of poor people would be able to take a pathway out of poverty within one generation.

We recognise that poverty is the primary obstacle to living a full life for many of the people living in the province and we are doing all we can to address this untenable situation. This is why 76% of our budget is redistributed to poor communities. This is how it should be.

The following briefly outlines the Western Cape Government’s approach to creating opportunities for the poor:

The Western Cape government’s philosophy when it comes to defeating poverty

The Western Cape Government takes its constitutional responsibilities extremely seriously and has developed a comprehensive policy agenda designed to achieve quantifiable outcomes in order to meet our obligations.

However, there is a core philosophy underpinning all our policies and programmes.  It is based on the approach taken by every country that has been successful in reducing mass poverty.  The role of the state is to create and extend opportunities so that citizens are given the chance and the wherewithal to improve their circumstances and become economically independent, fulfilled and contributing citizens.

A record of effective service delivery

During its first term in office, the DA has approached the job of governing the Western Cape in a totally different manner to its predecessor, the ANC. Instead of “jobs-for-pals”, it has focused on effectiveness and transparency. Check out some of our key successes below:

•  76% of provincial budget spent in poor communities.
• Service delivery to more people than any other province despite a 46% growth in population since 1996.
• Outperformed every other province across every single measure – from clean governance to service delivery to education.
• In 2009, the DA inherited a province riddled with corruption and mismanagement. Under the ANC, not one government department received a clean audit in 2008. In the DA’s first year, seven departments achieved clean audits.
• The country’s top three government departments since 2011 have all been in the Western Cape. Under the ANC, not one department featured in the top three.
• Western Cape ranked as the best-run province in South Africa in 2013 and was the only province with no irregular or unauthorised spending.
• Highest access to water (99.1%), flush toilets (91,6%) and electricity (93.4%) of all provinces.
• Highest proportion of households receiving free basic water (66.8%), free basic electricity (46.3%) and free basic sewerage and sanitation (67.7%).
• In 2009, the ANC left the province with over 6,000 Health Department vacancies. The vacancy rate for nurses was 34%. By 2013, the DA had brought this down to just 4%.
• 80% of patients treated at public hospitals in the province now receive free services.
• The DA has increased ARV treatment in the Western Cape from 14 000 to 132 000, and brought down the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission to just 1.8% – the lowest in the country.
• In its first term in office, the DA built three brand new hospitals in Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and George and currently has 75 projects, valued at R4.5 billion, underway.
• Under-performing schools are schools where the matric pass rate is less than 60%. Under the ANC, this went from 36 schools in 2006 to 85 in 2009. In just three years, the DA brought the number down to 26 schools.
• There are currently 673 no-fee schools in the Western Cape, with another 216 to be added to the list in 2014.
• The DA recently pioneered an online textbook ordering system and, in 2013, was the only province to deliver 100% of textbook orders for the year.
• Since 2009, there has been a 25% increase in the number of candidates from poorer schools to pass the National Senior Certificate.
• Under the DA the matric science pass rate went from 53% to 71%. The maths pass rate went from 65% to 71%. Both of these figures are the highest in the country.

The Western Cape’s DA government exists to serve the people, and not the other way round.