– Local governance and city housing politics
– Key constituency of South Africa’s biggest liberal party is upset with them
– Local government elections are this year
——
Detailed Submission Statement (assuming you know very little about SA politics)
– The Democratic Alliance (DA) is South Africa’s main pro-business, liberal party and the second largest party after the African National Congress (ANC)
– They are historic rivals to the ANC, but went into coalition with them after the ANC lost their majority in 2024
– The ANC is social democratic, but completely wracked by gross corruption
– The DA is hoping that as the ANC continues to decline electorally, it will emerge as the dominant party in the country, or at least as a co-equal governing partner with reformists in the ANC
– Cape Town is a major coastal city in South Africa, and a stunningly beautiful destination for international tourists
– The heart of the DA’s support is in Cape Town, where it earns a majority
– Cape Town is one of the few cities in South Africa which is well run, and the DA’s appeal is largely built on the governance quality in Cape Town
– Cape Town is widely perceived to be in the midst of a housing and affordability crisis
– The mayor, and the DA more broadly, are pro-business, pro-developer, anri-NIMBY, pro-digital nomads and anti-rent freezes
– This article describes how middle class Cape Tonians are now struggling with their property taxes and municipal rates
– This article is not a scientific study. I am not posting it to give an objective assessment of the state of affordability in Cape Town.
– Instead, it gives you a view into the perception that is growing amongst many middle class voters in Cape Town that the city is becoming unaffordable
– The blame is increasingly being laid at the feet of the DA. The article reflects things I’ve heard in conversations. “The DA just want to sell Cape Town out to digital nomads”
– Politically, this is a big risk.
– The DA have already upset one of their core constituencies – (White) farmers.
– The Minister of Agriculture is the DA leader, who was forced to not run for re-election in April as DA leader after a string of scandals as well as after losing the confidence of influential voices in the Afrikaner farming community
– He is currently handling (or mishandling, if you ask some) a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease which is crippling farmers
– If the DA were also to upset middle class property owners and ratepayers, that would be another major pillar of support that is threatened
– The mayor of Cape Town is expected to be the next DA leader
– The DA have their leadership election in April
– If (when) he becomes DA leader, he will immediately have to lead the DA in Local Government Elections scheduled for the end of the year
– The DA are the biggest liberal party in South Africa
– Their success is our success, in the short run, so it is important that they don’t fall apart
– But the growing negative sentiment around affordability and their local government in Cape Town could harm them
– And if they do badly, it will delay or jeopardise the progress towards a more liberal South African government
So for me this is a very interesting story politically. But I hope some local government policy wonks will find something interesting to chew on here too.
Please feel free to ask any questions you have no matter how basic. I know SA is pretty peripheral to global politics, so I’ll try my best to answer slowly, from scratch and in detail.
1 Comment
tldr relevance:
– Local governance and city housing politics
– Key constituency of South Africa’s biggest liberal party is upset with them
– Local government elections are this year
——
Detailed Submission Statement (assuming you know very little about SA politics)
– The Democratic Alliance (DA) is South Africa’s main pro-business, liberal party and the second largest party after the African National Congress (ANC)
– They are historic rivals to the ANC, but went into coalition with them after the ANC lost their majority in 2024
– The ANC is social democratic, but completely wracked by gross corruption
– The DA is hoping that as the ANC continues to decline electorally, it will emerge as the dominant party in the country, or at least as a co-equal governing partner with reformists in the ANC
– Cape Town is a major coastal city in South Africa, and a stunningly beautiful destination for international tourists
– The heart of the DA’s support is in Cape Town, where it earns a majority
– Cape Town is one of the few cities in South Africa which is well run, and the DA’s appeal is largely built on the governance quality in Cape Town
– Cape Town is widely perceived to be in the midst of a housing and affordability crisis
– The mayor, and the DA more broadly, are pro-business, pro-developer, anri-NIMBY, pro-digital nomads and anti-rent freezes
– This article describes how middle class Cape Tonians are now struggling with their property taxes and municipal rates
– This article is not a scientific study. I am not posting it to give an objective assessment of the state of affordability in Cape Town.
– Instead, it gives you a view into the perception that is growing amongst many middle class voters in Cape Town that the city is becoming unaffordable
– The blame is increasingly being laid at the feet of the DA. The article reflects things I’ve heard in conversations. “The DA just want to sell Cape Town out to digital nomads”
– Politically, this is a big risk.
– The DA have already upset one of their core constituencies – (White) farmers.
– The Minister of Agriculture is the DA leader, who was forced to not run for re-election in April as DA leader after a string of scandals as well as after losing the confidence of influential voices in the Afrikaner farming community
– He is currently handling (or mishandling, if you ask some) a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease which is crippling farmers
– If the DA were also to upset middle class property owners and ratepayers, that would be another major pillar of support that is threatened
– The mayor of Cape Town is expected to be the next DA leader
– The DA have their leadership election in April
– If (when) he becomes DA leader, he will immediately have to lead the DA in Local Government Elections scheduled for the end of the year
– The DA are the biggest liberal party in South Africa
– Their success is our success, in the short run, so it is important that they don’t fall apart
– But the growing negative sentiment around affordability and their local government in Cape Town could harm them
– And if they do badly, it will delay or jeopardise the progress towards a more liberal South African government
So for me this is a very interesting story politically. But I hope some local government policy wonks will find something interesting to chew on here too.
Please feel free to ask any questions you have no matter how basic. I know SA is pretty peripheral to global politics, so I’ll try my best to answer slowly, from scratch and in detail.