Cape Town’s population increased by 45% in 15 years

We all know how Capetonians like to go on about how everyone wants to live in their city. Because, you know, the mountain and the beaches and the mountain and the mountain…

Anyway, between the census of 1996 and 2011, the City of Cape Town grew by 45%, according to Helen Zille’s State of the Province address.

The stats seem astronomical, but Zille insisted that it was the case. These stats were used before, by Patricia de Lille in 2014, and while the numbers are correct in terms of percentage, Cape Town is not actually South Africa’s fastest growing metro, as reported by the Daily Maverick in 2014. That honour goes to Johannesburg.

However, the figure is often used by politicians to try and explain strains on the city’s resources and that’s exactly what Zille did at her State of the Province address. She said:

“Our health facilities are experiencing a steady rise in patient numbers, with a 2% year-on-year rise in emergency centres. Our provincial population is increasing annually in the face of shrinking budgets in real terms.”

Zille says the province is currently committing R800m to health infrastructure over the next three years with 40% of this money going towards maintaining existing facilities.