Strandfontein Camp: Five Years On, No Accountability

GOOD Statement by Suzette Little, GOOD Deputy Secretary-General & City of Cape Town Caucus Chairperson:

On the fifth anniversary of the closure of Cape Town’s controversial Strandfontein “homeless persons camp”. The GOOD party submitted questions to the executive mayor for written response in terms of rules of order 22.1 and 22.5.

The camp operated for just six weeks in 2020, but cost the City a staggering R53 million. R43 million of that was spent on the hire of marquee tents alone.

Despite damning findings and public outrage, no action has been taken against a single political leader, most notably, JP Smith. Smith, who championed and oversaw the camp through the City’s Disaster Risk Management Department, remains comfortably seated in the Mayor’s Executive.

Despite the City receiving an unqualified audit report for the 2019/20 annual audit, the AGSA Investigations Business Unit issued audit observations to the City of Cape Town relating to possible control weaknesses and associated fraud risks in relation to the Strandfontein camp, including inflated costs, poor planning, and irregular procurement practices.

In 2023, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed the camp was both a humanitarian failure and a financial scandal. The SIU found that the City failed to follow proper procurement processes, incurred irregular expenditure, and that the service provider “profited excessively.”

In addition to these findings, the SIU also resolved that the excessive profit, the funds paid to the tent supplier, must be recovered, and undertook to appoint a State Attorney to act on this. But crucially, the City itself was not precluded from taking action to recover these funds. It could and should have initiated its own process to do so. That it chose not to further underscores its unwillingness to enforce accountability or protect public funds.

The facts are clear and indefensible. The DA, which repeatedly claims to uphold clean and transparent governance, promised action. But to date, none has followed.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who took office in 2021, inherited the SIU report, the public outrage, and the responsibility to act. In January 2022, his administration publicly acknowledged the report and pledged that action would be taken if wrongdoing was found. The wrongdoing was found. The Mayor has done nothing.

As GOOD, we asked:

• When did the SIU inform the City of Cape Town’s attorneys regarding this matter
• Did the City Manager brief the mayor regarding the Auditor General’s report which clearly highlighted multiple procurement-related risks tied to the City of Cape Town’s COVID-19 initiatives, including the Strandfontein tented camp. These procurement risks were serious and suggested both systemic weaknesses and potential for fraud.
• What internal steps, if any, has the City taken since then to address the control weaknesses and reduce fraud risk?
• On what basis can the City continue to claim it lacks sufficient detail to respond when its legal representatives are already engaged with the SIU?
• Has the City taken any steps to recover funds or hold any officials or contractors accountable in connection with the expenditure at Strandfontein?

The failure to act sends a dangerous message that accountability within the City is optional and that political protection is more important than the public interest.
Capetonians deserve better. They deserve real leadership, not empty promises. They deserve transparency, integrity, and consequences when public money is wasted and vulnerable people are treated with such disregard.

Mayor Hill-Lewis, the time for evasion is over. Give answers. Take action.

GOOD Manifesto on Environmental Justice: Advocating for the protection of natural resources.

Read More at the Source