Speech by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town,
Alderman Patricia de Lille on the occasion of a full
Council sitting on Wednesday 27 March 2013
Good morning, goeiedag, molweni,
Mr. Speaker,
The City of Cape Town is confronted with numerous social realities that
complicate our plans for service delivery.
I believe that the mark of a good government is incorporating those
challenges into any plan so that we can always be assured that we have a
real-world approach to real-world difficulties.
One of the grim truths of life, in any place where humans have come to
live together throughout history, is that the threat of fire and its
consequences is ever present.
That threat can be mitigated by planning communities in particular ways
and ensuring that our buildings have certain minimum standards in place
that try and provide a measure of safety.
In addition to which, the design of our communities has to provide easy
access points for emergency services, in the event that a fire does break
out.
We know that, especially in Cape Town, the possibility of fires is increased
by the nature of our climate and the strong winds that blow across the
peninsula.
Centrally, our Fire and Rescue Services provide a level of response that I
believe is the national gold standard.
Years of investing in Fire and Rescue Services have provided upgrades to
equipment and vehicles, increases in the staff complement and the
building of new fire stations to enhance service delivery.
But even with all of these measures in place, fires do occur, especially in
places where the City has been unable to directly influence the original
planning and mapping of structures, such as in informal settlements.
I think, Mr. Speaker, about the tragedies of major fires earlier this year,
in BM Section in Khayelitsha and in Atlantis.
Apart from major efforts of providing new services or structures for
people, we also have to think of what immediate relief we provide to
people who have lost their homes in a fire.
We have been providing emergency fire kits to people so that they have
some materials to start rebuilding their lives.
Those kits were made up of material to the value of R972,00.
Before Council today is a proposal to increase the value of the materials in
those kits to R3 670,00 which is an almost four-fold increase.
These kits will contain materials that include pine poles, galvanised
corrugated steel, a wooden door, wooden windows, hinges and various
types of nails.
While these kits will never replace what people may have lost, they can
help restore some sense of dignity as an immediate measure after a fire.
Mr. Speaker, the City is requesting an interdict from the Western Cape
High Court to stop SANRAL from proceeding with its N1/N2 road project
without Cape Town having a full understanding of the toll costs.
As this chamber knows, the City filed an interdict at the end of November
to prevent SANRAL proceeding with its project without considering the
City’s review application.
Part of that interdict was a notice period to be served on the City 45 days
before the commencement of any work.
The City received said notice on 6 March this year, suggesting that the
project will be starting soon.
We have made a commitment that Cape Town will not become like
Johannesburg where toll roads were constructed amid great controversy
and with very serious concerns about a lack of proper consultation.
We have already stated that we are concerned about the potential impact
of tolls on road users, especially people from poorer communities who
would be hardest hit by the proposed routes of the toll-roads.
As befits our constitutional framework, we have already exhausted all
available means of inter-governmental dispute.
In the interests of the people of Cape Town, we will take our concerns to
the courts and ensure that the people of this city, and their
representatives, are heard.
Mr. Speaker, this government has made the roll-out of a fully-functional
public transportation system a priority.
We have done so because for too long South African cities have been
collections of people spread across great distances with little connecting
them.
This design was no accident.
It was the physical expression of the Apartheid system mapped in urban
geography.
To truly build a new future and overcome our past, we have to build a
different type of city, one where every person in every community has the
ability to access every part of the city and the opportunities such access
provide.
This is an ambitious project and it will take many years to complete.
That means that it has to progress in phases, so that we can assess
critical milestones at various points and adjust our roll-out schemes as we
need to.
We are already a few years down the road.
We rolled-out the first pilot phase for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we
have been rolling out the first part of the phase in the CBD and up the
West Coast for the past few years.
We have established a Transport Authority for Cape Town and we have
made a public commitment to roll-out an express service to the SouthEast of the city, specifically Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, by the end of
this year.
Throughout the course of this project, we have extensively engaged with
stakeholders, as we must, given that we are aiming to bring together
various modes of transport into one coherent network.
One of these stakeholders, and indeed one of our partners, thus far has
been Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS), who we have been included
every step of the way.
I am thus disappointed that despite this level of trust, despite the City
ensuring that GABS was included in this transformative project for Cape
Town and agreed to their place in it, GABS has gone to the High Court
seeking to block the roll-out of the next phase of the MyCiTi project.
Mr. Speaker, this government respects the rule of law and we will respect
the outcome of these legal processes.
But let me say that I am astonished that that a company like GABS is
seeking to block an initiative that will directly benefit the poor of this city,
especially given the ownership of GABS.
GABS is owned by Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) Limited, which
has as its majority shareholder the South African Clothing and Textile
Workers Union (SACTWU).
Indeed, many of its directors are from SACTWU or are former unionists.
Does Marcel Golding, the Executive Chairman of HCI, support GABS’
action?
Mr. Golding is a former general secretary of the National Union of
Mineworkers.
Does the CEO, Anthony Copelyn, a former general secretary of SACTWU,
support it?
Mr. Speaker, South Africa is a place of many tensions and contradictions.
But there are few contradictions more apparent, or greater ironies, than
the fact that a union-backed company is opposing one of the most
profoundly socially transformative projects of a generation, one that will
change the lives of poor people in Cape Town.
It is a brutal reality for the poor that their would-be champions choose to
be brave only when behind a megaphone and not when making financial
decisions behind the closed doors of the boardroom.
And let me remind this Council that GABS receives a government subsidy
per passenger, amounting to a total subsidy of around R700 million per
year. It is tragically ironic that a service that cannot sustain itself as a
private business without being propped up by public funds tries to oppose
something that is designed for the public good.
Mr Speaker I am able to report in relation to the investigation into the
Violence Prevention through Urban Upgraging(VPUU) and Informal
Settlement Transformation Programmes (ISTP) that the external
investigation commissioned by the City has now been finalised. The City is
currently in discussion with its legal advisors with regard to the
implementation of certain of the recommendations contained in the
investigator's report. In relation to the ISTP programme, the City's
investigation has revealed certain deficiencies from a legal perspective in
the Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) document entered into between
the City and SUN Development.
The deficiencies include for example uncertainty with regard to the
levying of VAT, the failure to stipulate precisely the need for supporting
documentation relating to invoicing and a lack of clearly identified
milestones and deliverables. The City is in the process of taking
disciplinary action against those officials who were initially involved in the
preparation and implementation of the MOU.
The MOU is due to terminate on 27 August 2013, being a period of three
years subsequent to its commencement on 27 August 2010. The City will
thus be phasing out its engagement with SUN in the transformation of
Informal Settlements between now and 27 August 2013 as the further
and on-going implementation of the project becomes the responsibility of
the City's internal administration.
As regards the remainder of the contract period up until 27 August 2013,
the City has highlighted in past months a number of shortcomings in the
implementation of the MOU and, in particular, certain of the invoicing
requirements. The City has accordingly prepared a further addendum to
the existing MOU which it hopes to have signed shortly.
I shall update the Chamber on the progress of our legal advice at the next
Council meeting.
Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of asking this Council to continue our
programme of redress and reconciliation by releasing land in Somerset
West for restitution purposes.
This parcel of land, and its claim, goes back to 1969, when Somerset
West was declared a ‘white area.’
The coloured claimants were removed to the designated ‘coloured area’ or
Eerste River.
This is an indirect claim of the City and is based on a request from the
Regional Land Claims Commission (RLCC) for the City to release the land
to the RLCC for the claim to be settled with the family.
Before Council today is the proposition that we release this land at the
municipal value of R480 000,00 only, thereby helping effect another
measure of social justice in our city.
Furthermore, to assist with development in Ilitha Park in Khayelitsha, it is
proposed to make available certain erven to developers.
Those erven would not be required to provide a minimum level of basic
services so that developers can sell-on the plots to identified beneficiaries
in the affordable housing market on a Plot-and-Plan basis at lower rates
than would be found on the market.
Such approval will help us diversify our housing market and ensure that
we have a layered approach to all levels of the market, catering also for
the crucial ‘gap housing’ segment of people who need access to affordable
housing outside of the direct housing provisions by government.
In conclusion, in Cape Town, we know that one of the challenges we are
constantly faced with is addressing the injustices of the past and ensuring
that every step we take is a step forward to a better future that includes
everyone.
I believe that by maintaining our focus on redress programmes, at the
level of individual land claims all the way to the level of a transport
network connecting everyone in the city, we will meet those challenges
and overcome them.
To truly succeed, however, we will need everyone to join us in our efforts,
from private individuals to large companies.
Because only common action can lead to a shared future.
Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.