Capetonians are more satisfied with the way their city is being run than they were a year ago, but housing and health care remain critical areas of service under-delivery, according to a survey released on Thursday.

"Fifty-four percent of residents said that, overall, the City of Cape Town's performance was good, very good or excellent (up from last year's 50 percent)," the city said in a statement.

The 2008/09 survey – conducted by TNS Research Surveys, which polled 3000 people across the metropole, plus 500 companies – was commissioned by the city's strategy and planning directorate.

It was carried out between mid-November 2008 and mid-January this year. A similar survey was done in 2007/08.

"Cape Town's citizens perceive the level of services provided by the municipality to have improved in the past year, and satisfaction with service delivery has risen since the last survey was done."

The city authorities had also received a big thumbs-up from the business sector, with 77 percent of those surveyed – up from last year's 69 percent – rating the city's performance as "good, very good or excellent".

Further, 75 percent of businesses (70 percent last year) rated the city's role as a provider of municipal services as good, very good or excellent.

"Overall, the provision of essential services remains a relative strength of the city; in particular, refuse removal, water, and sanitation services.

"Community facilities such as libraries, community centres and civic halls are also relatively highly rated, but parks have been identified as an area for improvement.

"The survey responses indicate that we excel in fire and emergency responses, and the training of rescue workers and their quality of service are considered particular strengths."

However, winter flooding remained an area of concern.

"Residents would also like to see us taking a stronger line on refuse dumping and neighbourhood noise levels."

Other areas of concern were provision of housing and health care.

"The survey indicated that housing and health care are perceived as critical areas of under-delivery, although these, like transport and community safety, are not the sole responsibility of local government," the city said.

Sapa

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