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SPEECH BY HELEN ZILLE
MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN
FOR THE KHAYELITSHA DEVELOPMENT
FORUM COUNCIL MEETING
SUNDAY 11 MAY 2008 – 10H35 - SIZIMISELE
SECONDARY SCHOOL - CNR OF GOVAN
MBEKI RD AND MANDELA PARK RD,
KHAYELITHSA
Speaking Time: 30 minutes
Requested Topics:
New developments that will take place in the coming financial year in
Khayelitsha (including URP)
Bongi will also provide Mayor with notes from Nodal Econ Dev Workshop,
on his Friday meeting with Eskom, and on Dyantyi’s attacks on the City
regarding the URP)
1.Introduction
I would like to thank you for inviting me to speak to you
at the Khayelitsha Development Forum plenary council
meeting.
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I would also like to thank the KDF for their ongoing
support to their community, and the guidance they offer
the City of Cape Town on important service delivery
matters.
The City is committed to improving services and
infrastructure in Khayelitsha.
We want use our municipal projects to encourage
economic growth, job creation and improved standards
of living in your community.
The point is, even though the City itself cannot offer
employment and economic empowerment to everyone,
we can make it easier for people to open businesses and
create many more jobs.
We can also make Khayelitsha a more attractive place
for people to invest.
I have been asked to tell you about some of the projects
and developments that we have planned for Khayelitsha
ahead of 2010, with this goal in mind.
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When we consider all of these projects, the future looks
positive.
2. New developments planned for Khayelitsha in the
coming financial year (VPUU, URP and others)
One of the signs that the local economy is growing here
is the commercial development that can be seen in the
CBD and other areas.
We are trying to encourage this wherever we can,
through projects like the Nonkqubela Informal Trading
Market, the Vuyani, Kuyasa and Site C Meat Markets,
and the Khayelitsha Training Centre. The Training centre
includes Business Hives and a Digital Business Centre
which gives local businesses access to electronic
resources for marketing and networking.
In Harare we are investing R14 million in the Score
Square between now and mid 2009 under the City’s
Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrade (VPUU).
Another crucial infrastructure project we are working on
for the economic development of Khayelitsha and the
improvement of living conditions is the rail extension
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and the Kuyasa Transport Interchange, which is part of
the VPUU and Urban Renewal Project (URP).
Over the next three years we will spend R300 million on
the rail extension’s Kuyasa interchange, which will
include a new taxi rank and bus station, together with
infrastructure for commercial outlets.
This will create opportunities for entrepreneurs, and
encourage further investment and job creation in the
area.
Several other important developments on the rail
extension are also nearly completed, including several
road and pedestrian bridges, a new connecting road
network that the City has built, and two new stations.
We are improving road networks and related
infrastructure in other parts of the community as well,
such as the Pama Road development due to be completed
by the end of 2009, to improve access and efficiency, and
investors.
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I must emphasise that the City does not support the toll
road being proposed for the N2 near Khayelitsha by
national government agency SANRAL.
A toll road on the N2 would unfairly prejudice the poorer
communities in this area.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) record of
decision which was released earlier this year shows that
the socio-economic impact of toll roads was not
addressed.
Also, many commuters are likely to use alternative
routes on secondary roads which will damage them,
compound congestion and negatively affect the living
conditions of residents in this area.
Besides, toll roads are not a viable or fair option in the
absence of a safe, reliable and integrated public transport
system which will provide a reasonable alternative to
using the toll road.
SANRAL has a responsibility to maintain our national
roads. It is unclear to me why it expects the public to pay
further levies for road maintenance and upgrades that
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should be funded by their already high levies and tax
allocation.
The City will be formally objecting to the proposals
soon.
Returning to key projects in the year ahead, the City will
be supporting major commercial events like the
Khayelitsha Festival, which is to be held in October or
November this year at the Oliver Tambo Hall.
The Khayelitsha Festival is going to be an exciting first
for Cape Town.
It will include exhibitions and performances, and will
focus on health, fashion, food, leisure and lifestyle.
It will provide small enterprises in Khayelitsha with a
number of opportunities to generate income and build a
profile.
It will also generate interest from tourists, as will the
Khayelitsha Wine Festival, which we are also
supporting.
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One of the City’s priorities is to encourage the tourism
industry in this community, which is one of Cape Town’s
major sources of income in places like the Atlantic Sea
Board, the Southern Peninsula and Strand.
To this end, we are investing in a tourism centre and
facilities in Look Out Hill, upgrading the Khayelitsha
Wetlands Park, the FIFA Hope Centre in Harare (under
the VPUU programme) and renovating facilities at
Monwabisi.
I am very excited about the work that is starting at
Monwabisi – we have been allocated about R100 million
from Treasury under the URP and VPUU to transform
this beautiful stretch of coastline into a major tourist
attraction and recreation area for the local community.
This beach is an untapped gold mine of tourist potential.
In order to ensure that our projects and municipal
services in Khayelitsha are well managed, we are also
preparing to establish new Municipal Offices in the
Business District.
Funding has been provided by the Khayelitsha
Community Trust for the appointment of a consultant to
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undertake a needs analysis for this development, and
once this analysis has been completed, we will initiate
the construction of the new offices.
We have also provided new municipal facilities for
community use in the form the CBD and Eyethu Multipurpose Centres (together costing the City R40 million),
which are almost complete.
Part of making Khayelitsha more appealing to investors,
and also a better place to live, is improving the physical
environment in terms of safety and organisation.
That is what our VPUU programme is about. I have
already mentioned some of the projects that fall under
that programme, however we also have some very
positive plans in the pipeline.
One of the most important of these is the Urban Design
and Development framework plan for Site C / TR, which
should be ready by early next year. This plan will guide
our spending on public transport, housing, local
economic development, public places, pedestrian
facilities, and new housing developments.
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For Site C we are also planning various community
based initiatives over and above existing fire safety and
emergency programmes, including interventions to
support victims of violence, prevent crime and assist the
youth with access to new opportunities. These include
the development of partnerships with NGOs for anti-rape
support services, legal advice services, talent exchange
systems, community patrols and training of conflict
mediators in Schools.
We are planning similar interventions in Harare and
other areas.
At the same time as encouraging growth in the local
economy through infrastructure investment, we have also
introduced a number of programmes to upgrade and
improve living conditions of residents.
Rapid and sustained economic growth is the long term
solution to the challenge of poverty and sub-standard
living conditions affecting Khayelitsha.
But the City is also committed to meeting its
constitutional obligation to provide access to water,
sanitation and shelter for the poorest residents of this
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community, and we have nearly R500 million on the
coming annual budget for this purpose.
We want to provide the poor with the support they need
while they seek to empower themselves through jobs or
business ventures.
We want to ensure that more residents have access to
basic services. Our Informal Settlement Upgrade Master
Plan commits the City to providing basic services to all
40 informal areas of Khayelitsha by 2010, including one
standpipe for every 25 homes, community based
distribution and collection of black bags, area cleaning,
flood or street lighting and pre-paid electrical
connections. However, the good news is that about 30 of
the 40 areas will have these by the end of this year, and
only four areas (Nyebelele, MM1 Section, QA Section
and Masikhule) will have to wait until the end of next
year.
A particular challenge for us is to ensure that more
residents have access to electricity.
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For this reason, we are working very hard to have the
existing high masts in Khayelitsha connected to the
Eskom grid.
We held a meeting on Friday (9th of May 2008) to
finalize the Enkanini masts and I will keep pressure on
Eskom to deliver on this.
The City has ordered at least another three masts for this
particular project to ensure safety and security as the
electrification of this area by Eskom is still some time
away.
In terms of waste removal, in the formal areas of
Khayelitsha, we will be introducing a new community
based system of area cleaning this year, which is about to
go out to tender. Suburbs such as Ekuphumeleni,
Graceland, Griiffiths Mxenge, Harare, Illitha Park,
Khaya, Kuyasa, Mandela Park and Umrhabulo Triangle
will be serviced by 70 full time labourers recruited from
the community to clean the streets and open spaces in the
formal areas. The tender will be awarded for three years
with workers hired through a random selection process to
be repeated on an annual basis in order to ensure
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fairness. We are hoping to have this service working by
July or August.
Finally, looking at housing, we are trying to do
something for as many people as possible, rather than a
lot for a well-connected few, which has created so many
problems with the National and Provincial controlled N2
Gateway Project.
Our top priority is getting housing beneficiaries onto
serviced sites and giving them security of tenure. We
want people to own the ground they live on, so that they
can take pride in it, develop it, and even use it to get
credit to start businesses if possible.
In projects currently underway, we are delivering
thousands of housing opportunities.
Silvertown has already created 1200 opportunities.
Nonquebela Phase 2 will deliver 1000 sites.
In various parts of Site C, Imbokotho Emnyama and
Intsika we will be delivering about 2000 units in the
years ahead.
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And by the end of 2009 we will have delivered 1500
opportunities in Enkanini.
In the medium term I am also very optimistic about the
prospects of several major new housing developments
we are considering for the Khayelithsa area, although the
plans are still being finalised.
I am also happy to say that we have commenced a
wonderful energy efficiency project in the Kuyasa low
cost housing project which will use solar panels to
generate energy. I hope that we can eventually extend
this to all housing projects.
The main hurdles we face when it comes to housing are a
serious shortage of suitable land for housing, and the red
tape created by environmental laws and Province’s
refusal to grant us housing accreditation.
Our big challenge for the year ahead will be to tackle
these issues.
3. Conclusion
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To conclude, the City is investing billions of rands in
Khayelitsha over the next few years to encourage
economic growth and improve living conditions for
residents.
We are happy to have the assistance and commitment of
the KDF in this endeavour – and our commitment to
working with them for the benefit of development in
Khayelitsha is underscored by our allocation of funds for
staff to support the forum.
I look forward to hearing your questions and concerns
regarding any of the projects and initiatives I have
mentioned above, and I look forward to continuing our
positive working relationship.
I thank you.