Speech by Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de Lille,
at the Wesgro Investor Forum on 23 November 2011
The President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Mr. Jacob
Zuma,
The Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille,
Members of the Provincial Cabinet,
Councillors,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good afternoon, goeiedag, molweni.
In economic terms, almost everything is linked.
We cannot speak about city economies, regional economies, national
economies or the international economy in isolation.
To do so would be to fundamentally misunderstand the dynamic
connections of markets.
We must look at all economic actors as being inter-related and dependent
upon one another.
I would like to welcome you all to Cape Town and the Wesgro Investor
Forum.
Wesgro has a great store of knowledge of this region’s economy and
investors are encouraged to make use of this incredibly valuable resource.
Such engagements allow us to deepen the ties that bind our shared
economy together.
Such engagements must take stock of our strengths and our weaknesses.
The Western Cape is fortunate to have certain economic advantages, not
least of which is the degree to which various local economies in this
province are linked as a region.
That regional economy allows each of the players to leverage certain
strengths and advantages in the market.
That leverage helps us share growth.
And it helps us share the gains of development.
Those twin benefits combine to provide opportunities for our people.
Cape Town is uniquely weighted in this nexus of economies.
It contains the bulk of the province’s population as well as certain other
benefits.
These include the majority of industries.
It includes the highest portion of services.
And it acts as a centrepiece for tourism to the region.
There are numerous other strengths which we have at our advantage, not
least in South African terms a relatively developed infrastructure and a
unique concentration of educational institutions.
All of these allow for a greater degree of economic and social strengths.
This has seen us attract investment to Cape Town.
Between 2008 and 2010, the city attracted R19,9 billion in Foreign Direct
Investment.
Those investments were predominantly in communications, IT services
and business services sectors.
This has allowed for stable rates of growth over the past few years, with
allowances for the effects of the global financial crises of recent times
which have affected us all.
We seek to maximise our strengths.
We wish to build up our competitive advantage as a regional trading
centre, unlocking the potential of the African West Coast and thereby
unlocking our own potential.
We maintain our own investment to make that happen, not least in
transportation networks and infrastructure amongst our other mandates.
However, we currently do not have control over the tariffs charged at our
port and our airport.
Nor do we have a say in the management of those facilities.
To truly drive economic and social development, we must have a say in
how the major entry points to our city are managed.
We know what we are trying to achieve for our region: economic growth
and opportunities.
But just as economies are linked enough to allow us to be a regional
centre, they are also linked by laws and regulations.
We need partners at the provincial and national levels to assist us in our
economic programme just as much as we need other investors.
We have seen what such partnerships can produce in recent times.
Cape Town was recently named the World Design Capital for 2014 and
Table Mountain was recently voted as one of the seven wonders of the
natural world.
Both of those accolades will benefit our city economically.
I would like to thank the province and the city for helping us drive both of
those campaigns.
Both were excellent examples of constructive engagement to benefit the
city economy and the economy of the region and the country.
Indeed, as we engage with investors, so too do we engage with other
spheres of government.
We have welcomed, for instance, the chance afforded us to review State
Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa.
Investors must have confidence that the area where they place their
resources can do everything possible to grow.
This poses a challenge for us at the city level as we plan to be competitive
and use our geographical location to benefit our economy and our people.
As city regions are the drivers of growth internationally, it is important
that we are able to use all the tools at our disposal to generate growth.
We are encouraged by the recognition given to the potential and
significance of municipalities, and metros, by the National Planning
Commission.
We are further encouraged by the review of the central basis of SOEs
currently taking place.
These positive signs lead me to ask President Zuma a question, even
though I am no longer a member of parliament: In this spirit of positive
change, has the president reviewed the legislation that hampers service
delivery as identified two years ago by the Premier of the Western Cape?
By improving service delivery, we will be better placed to provide
economic opportunities and thus increase our profile as an attractive
destination for investment.
By engaging with each other, as governments and investors, we can
continue to build on our existing strengths.
And in so doing we can face our challenges head on and explore new
ways to create growth.
For it is certainly true that no region or partner is without their
weaknesses.
We just have to know how to recognise those weaknesses and turn them
into strengths.