Cape Town enters local elections with the DA holding 134 seats

The Democratic Alliance (DA) governs the council with 134 seats. The ANC has 43 seats, the EFF has 10 and GOOD has nine. In the 2021 local elections the DA won 58.3% of the vote, down from 66.6% in 2016. The ANC won 18.6%, down from 24.3%, and the EFF won 4.1%, up from 3.1%.

About 18.2% of residents live below the poverty line. The Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, was 0.61 in 2022, down from 0.68 in 2002. In the 2022 census, 87.5% of households lived in formal housing and 11.7% in informal housing.

In 2022, 85.4% of households had piped water inside the home, up from 75% in 2011. Some 91.4% had refuse removal and 92.4% had access to sanitation. In 2024/25 the city reported that it met 81% of its basic service delivery targets but only 38% of its housing targets. It spent 92.3% of its capital budget.

Cape Town produces 72% of the Western Cape economy and 11% of national GDP. Direct tourism spending reached R24.5 billion in 2025 and supported more than 106,000 jobs. In a July 2026 ruling on the Tafelberg site sale, the Constitutional Court found that the city and the provincial government had perpetuated spatial apartheid.

President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised the city's service delivery record and spending priorities in October 2025. An Africa Check investigation found that claims Cape Town was the worst metro at expanding service access were misleading. It also found no evidence for claims that the city favoured affluent areas.