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Neatly ensconced between the mighty blue waters of the Atlantic, and the staggering heights of Table Mountain, but also sprawling out and away in different directions, from these imposing landmarks- lies the City of Cape Town - fondly known as "The Mother City", or Ekapa, in one of this province's official languages - IsiXhosa.
It is one of South Africa's 8 metropolitan municipalities, and a formidable player in the national economy - contributing about 10% of national GDP.
It is home to nearly 5 million people, with nearly 2 million of those being of voting age, come 4 November.
That easily makes the metro - a massive, and much-coverted electoral prize!
But it's a prize that's not exchanged hands since 2006 - when the DA's dominance of this city's body-politic began to take shape, when Helen Zille was first elected mayor, replacing the ANC's Nomaindia Mfeketo.
Since then, the party has made the city something of a fortress - with a significant gap in percentage support, between the governing party and the opposition.
The claim that the City of Cape Town is the best governed city in the country, with superior service delivery, easily rolls off the tongues of its leaders, and the DA broadly.
But claims of inequitable development, spatial apartheid, and a sense of one Cape Town - two different city experiences - one for the poor and marginalised, and another for the well-off, are never far from the lips of critics.
DA Federal Leader Geordin Hill-Lewis wears the mayoral chain, and has done so since 2021, but each of his fellow-participants in tonight's mayoral debate, will be hoping to be the one to be sworn in - as mayor, a few days after 04 November.
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