Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
City and Province announce new head of investment promotion
Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, and I are pleased to announce that Tim
Harris will be joining the Office of the Executive Mayor to head up investment
promotion in the City of Cape Town.
He will focus on driving job creation and investment in Cape Town and will
work to align the programmes of the City’s Economic Development
Department, the Western Cape Government, Wesgro, and the Economic
Development Partnership. This will present a united front for investors looking
to create jobs in our city.
Together with key departments in the administration, Tim will enhance the
implementation of the City’s Economic Growth Strategy and our expanded
investment incentive policy, and will work to fully realise our vision of Cape
Town as an opportunity city.
Tim has contributed to the growth of the Democratic Alliance in many roles
over the past 10 years, after working in investment banking. Most recently, as
the DA’s Shadow Minister of Finance, he has led the process of developing
the party’s policy package to deliver growth and jobs. He will now be
focused on implementing many of these policy ideas in government and will
play a central role in ensuring that our city fulfils its economic potential.
With two years to go until the local government election in 2016, we are
committed to extending Cape Town’s lead as South Africa’s premier
investment destination. Our approach is in line with international best
practice, best typified by Port Louis, Mauritius and Chicago and New York in
the United States of America, and as articulated in our Economic Growth
Strategy. It will help create the kind of economic growth that allows for social
development through a broad policy of redress.
Furthermore it will require us to maintain our status as the best-run city in the
country, but also to roll out the red carpet to those international and
domestic investors and entrepreneurs who are committed to establishing and
expanding their operations in Cape Town to help create the jobs we need.
With Tim on board, we will have an innovative approach to investment
promotion that will add new vigour to our efforts to make progress possible.
Together.