Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, at
the full Council meeting on 10 December 2015
I would like a moment’s silence please for Ricardo Groenewald who passed
away recently.
Good morning, goeie môre, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.
Mr Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the former Finance Minister,
Nhlanhla Nene, for his service on behalf of the people of Cape Town.
We found him a constructive partner in managing the funds we receive from
the national fiscus.
I would also like to commend him for standing firm on the principle of sound
financial management and resisting unnecessary nuclear deals and
demanding that South African Airways (SAA) is responsibly managed.
He did these things against powerful political interests that have cost him his
career after being summarily dismissed by the president last night.
Mr Nene, while President Zuma doesn’t care what you meant for the
economy, we do and we thank you.
Mr Speaker,
Yesterday, I met with the Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu.
We had a discussion on the state of our municipal finances and the
outcomes from the AG’s latest audit into the City of Cape Town.
We are proud to announce that we have received our third clean audit in a
row and tenth unqualified audit in a row.
Thanks to a combination of sound financial management, leadership,
rigorous monitoring and open, ethical and transparent government, we
maintain our clean record.
The idea of an ‘unqualified audit’ doesn’t always find resonance with
people.
Sometimes, people don’t understand the importance of this designation and
what it means for them.
The status of a government’s audit essentially determines how well they
handle their finances.
This looks at many things, including abiding by all legal frameworks, whether
there are proper financial and monitoring procedures in place and whether
individuals behave ethically, to name a few.
And considering that governments manage public funds, these criteria are of
critical importance.
Unlike private organisations, governments are not driven by profit, nor do they
have the freedom to make what amount to risky decisions based on chance.
Supervising public money means acting as responsibly as possible so that the
public derives benefit from their resources.
Government really is a vehicle for turning public resources towards public
utility and public gain.
Such financial management allows us to provide services to all of the people
of this city, especially the poor.
It allows us to plan and manage budgets that roll out services to informal
settlements, provide services for backyarders, and subsidise the poor.
We do this by the most extensive cross-subsidisation of rates from wealthier to
poorer residents in the country.
And this policy allows us to deliver even when resources are limited.
Sometimes people get impatient with the pace of delivery or they become
impatient with the social circumstances left to us by our history.
I understand those frustrations.
Because as much as we have to abide by the law as a public service
organisation, we also have a moral duty to use public resources for the
betterment of our society.
We do not exist to make profit.
We exist to serve the public interest.
That is why our sector-leading spending performances, with over 90% capital
spend, demonstrate that we do everything we can to spend our money on
service delivery.
This includes making sure that we have labour-intensive projects that provide
economic relief to our communities who are most in need.
While National Government provides us with R20 million per year for
Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) projects, we spend an additional
R130 million mainstreaming EPWP job opportunities in our line departments.
Our excellence in the country in terms of EPWP was acknowledged by
National Government at the Kamosa awards.
But when talking about service delivery and spending the money we have to
improve lives, sometimes the law and the framework under which we
operate is not as responsive as it should be as our experience in the domain
of transportation has demonstrated recently.
The City of Cape Town submitted applications to the National Minister of
Transport for the assignment of the contracting authority function which
relates to this scheduled bus services contract in October 2012, and for the
municipal regulatory entity function in May 2013.
The City’s applications for the assignment of these functions to the City were
made as determined by the National Land Transport Act, 2009 (the NLTA), in
order to give effect to integrated transport.
Despite several letters to the Minister of Transport since lodging these
applications, the City has had no response from the Minister about a decision
to grant these applications.
The City has been left with no alternative other than to declare a formal
intergovernmental dispute in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations
Framework Act 13 of 2005 (IRFA).
Our notice of a dispute was made on the basis that the City has, since at
least at October 2012 and April 2013, been attempting to obtain the
assignment of the contracting authority and municipal regulatory entity
functions respectively, but has been unable to receive even a response to
the two assignment applications from the Minister of Transport.
The specific functions which the City has formally applied for are the
contracting authority function with regard to bus services like those provided
by Golden Arrow Bus Services (Pty) Ltd (GABS) within the city and the
municipal regulatory entity function for the issuing of operating licences to
road-based public transport such as buses and taxis.
These functions are currently both performed by the Western Cape
Government Department of Transport and Public Works.
The transport services provided by GABS are subsidised by the National
Government using the Public Transport Operations Grant (PTOG).
The City is ready to take over these functions as we have prepared 10-year
business plans and related budgets motivating the assignment of the
functions to the City, and ensuring that there is sufficient funding and
capacity, as required by the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000.
We have also obtained the approval of these business plans and related
budgets from the City’s Council, the Minister of Finance, the National
Treasury, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the
Western Cape Government, and the Financial and Fiscal Commission.
We have written to the Minister of Transport at least four times and once to
the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
We have also followed up with telephonic conversations in which the minister
undertook to obtain the applications from her officials and undertook to duly
consider same.
The silence and inaction is even more difficult to understand given that the
National Development plan, the National Transport Master Plan and the
National Transport Strategic Framework are in full support of the assignment
of the functions to municipalities.
After years of no responses, the Minister finally wrote to me last week to inform
me of proposed amendments to the NLTA.
There is no indication about when these amendments will be tabled before
Parliament as it is not yet on the roll.
The City’s application for the contracting and assignment authority is
essential to our plan to integrate and enhance public transport.
This will lead to lower travel costs and improve travel times and integration of
various modes of public transport.
We cannot allow progress to be stalled by these delays in making a decision
on our applications or the Minister’s failure to take a decision based on the
possibility of the Act being amended.
The current legislation still prevails until such time as the new legislation comes
into force, which is not a certainty.
Thousands of commuters are in need of a cheaper and more effective
transport and the implementation of an integrated transport network can no
longer be delayed.
Mr Speaker, a better transportation system will improve our energy usage
which will make our city more sustainable.
And on the question of sustainability and climate resilience, we remain
metropolitan thought leaders.
Last week, the City of Cape Town’s Water Conservation and Water
Demand Management Programme (WCWDM) was announced as the
winner in the Adaptation Implementation Category in the 2015 C40 Cities
Awards in Paris.
We are extremely proud of the City’s WCWDM programme which has been
instrumental in establishing Cape Town as a national leader in reducing
water demand and losses.
This award reaffirms the City’s international recognition as a leading city in
the global efforts to address climate change.
This programme is also a concrete example of the manner in which cities
are in a unique position to drive initiatives on the ground that prepare us for
the projected climatic changes, particularly an expected reduction in
annual average rainfall.
I was greatly honoured to receive this award on behalf of all residents of
Cape Town who have worked with us to reduce water demand and
implement water conservation measures.
I would like to extend my gratitude to our officials in the City’s Water and
Sanitation Department for the many years of dedication and commitment
to ensuring that we manage our water resources and infrastructure
efficiently.
The City of Cape Town has taken a proactive and long-term approach to
water management and has worked conscientiously to reduce water
demand.
Through effective resource management and a shared responsibility with
residents over a 15-year period, the WCWDM programme has resulted in a
reduction in demand or water savings of more than 30%.
This is despite significant development and the more than 30% increase in
population in Cape Town since 2001.
This project has resulted in massive carbon emission savings due to the City’s
ability to avoid infrastructure expansion which would have been required if
water consumption had not been reduced.
Indeed, this award shows how we are adapting to the realities of our climate
and our environment as the world negotiates our climate future.
Climate change is a global challenge that will require an unprecedented
level of international cooperation to prevent the planet from warming more
than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
The 2 degree-level is what global scientists have calculated to be the point at
which a dangerous destabilisation of the earth’s climate system will really
start to be felt.
The projected impacts range from extreme weather events to an increase in
vector-borne diseases and devastating impacts on biodiversity and the
world’s food production system.
These impacts will differ across the globe, with many of the poorer countries
tragically suffering the most from a problem that they had the smallest role in
creating.
It is therefore vitally important that an agreement is struck in Paris at COP21
that gives the world a sense of hope that this issue is finally being addressed
and given the global political priority it deserves.
Already progress is being made in Cape Town in that we have seen our
electricity usage decrease in the city as a whole from its 2007 level, while still
enjoying economic growth of over 3%.
Interestingly, it is projected that the greatest growth in emissions will come
from our transport sector over the next 25 years and tackling this will require,
among other things, changes in our urban form, coupled with major
interventions to increase vehicle occupancy, ensure more efficient vehicles
and increase public transport usage.
The City’s Energy 2040 Strategy, which sets carbon targets, has been
adopted by Council.
Reaching these targets will require a major effort from all stakeholders.
On the electricity front, Cape Town is determined to move ahead with
procuring power from renewable energy independent power producers so
that we can reach our target of sourcing at least 10% of our energy from
renewable sources by 2020.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, next week we will observe the Day of
Reconciliation.
This is a chance for all of us to reflect on how we can build a society based
on freedom, fairness, and opportunity.
In that regard, we will be continuing our programme of honouring our
Freeman of the City, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his lifetime with a
reconciliation day walk.
I urge all councillors to lead their communities at this event and turn out for
the Arch.
After that, I wish everyone a safe and restful festive season and urge all our
members to recharge themselves for the final push of this term of office.
And finally let me thank all councillors for their hard work this year. You have
done the people of Cape Town proud.
Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.