New evidence filed in the Dial-a-Ride court case

A joint media statement by the Western Cape Network on Disability, #UniteBehind and Disability Revolution.

On Thursday 2 April, the Western Cape Network on Disability (WCND), together with #UniteBehind and Disability Revolution, submitted a supplementary affidavit in the Western Cape High Court as part of the ongoing legal challenge to the City of Cape Town's decision to cut access to the Dial-a-Ride service.

The affidavit responds to new documentation disclosed by the City as part of the review record. This material reveals a deeply concerning pattern of failure by the City over a number of years. The newly disclosed material confirms that the City had long-standing knowledge of the programme's funding crisis, yet failed to secure support from provincial and national government, and ultimately took the irrational decision to cut the service.

Background to the case

The case stems from the City's August 2025 announcement of significant reductions to the Dial-a-Ride service, which many disabled people rely on as their only viable means of transport. In response, WCND, #UniteBehind and Disability Revolution mobilised alongside service users and disability sector organisations. This included a protest of approximately 300 people on 25 August 2025, where a braille list of demands was handed over to City representatives in response to inaccessible communications regarding the service changes.

The organisations subsequently approached the High Court through People's Legal Centre, arguing that the decision to reduce the service was unlawful, discriminatory, and unconstitutional. In September 2025, the parties reached a court-ordered agreement, in terms of which the City undertook to suspend the proposed cuts, reinstate services pending review, and reverse reductions already implemented, thereby preventing immediate harm to users while the matter proceeds. This agreement is legally binding on the City. A review application was filed in October 2025 challenging the lawfulness of the decision.

New evidence emerging from the record

Documentation disclosed by the City as part of the record of decision reveals that the municipality has long recognised Dial-a-Ride as an essential service for people with disabilities, as well as the structural challenges affecting it, including the need for increased funding simply to sustain current operations.

In 2022, the City approved a Dial-a-Ride business plan which explicitly recognised that the existing service was insufficient and required expansion to meet the needs and rights of people with disabilities. This plan included proposals to extend the service and explore subsidisation for alternative forms of public transport. However, despite approving a plan that depended on increased investment, the City failed to secure the necessary funding both to implement this expansion and to maintain the service at existing levels.

The City's own records further show that budget allocations from both the municipality and the Western Cape Provincial Government were not increased in line with rising operational costs and growing demand. Yet, rather than addressing this funding gap, the City chose to reduce the service.

These decisions were taken without adequate consultation with people with disabilities and the organisations representing them. The result has been a deepening of exclusion, making it harder for users to access work, healthcare, education, and daily life.

The record therefore reveals grave contradictions: the City's approval of a business plan which would expand and improve the service, the failure to fund it, and the subsequent decision to cut it. The supplementary affidavit filed on Thursday addresses these contradictions and responds directly to the information contained in the City's own documentation.

WCND, #UniteBehind, and Disability Revolution are seeking relief from the Court declaring the City's decision unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid; reviewing and setting aside the decision to cut the service; and directing the City to restore and meaningfully expand Dial-a-Ride in line with its obligations to people with disabilities, including taking reasonable steps to secure adequate and sustainable funding.

We remain committed to pursuing this matter to ensure a transport system that respects the dignity, equality, and mobility rights of persons with disabilities.