SPEECH BY ALDERMAN DAN PLATO, EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN AT THE TABLING OF THE 2010/11 BUDGET: COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY 25 MAY 2010.

Speaker, I would like to firstly thank all the officials and councillors for showing their support for our national soccer team and for Cape Town by dressing in your supporters jerseys. I encourage the whole of Cape Town to get into the World Cup spirit in order to ensure a success tournament.

Today this Council will be asked to vote on the final budget for 2010/2011.

Our Executive Deputy Mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson, will provide you with the full details of the budget.

Speaker, I would like to thank all the residents who provided comments during the public participation period. This was a valuable contribution to the budgetary process. I also extend my gratitude to all the staff that have worked tirelessly in ensuring that the budget comes to fruition.

On behalf of the City of Cape Town I welcome Cllr Brett Herron as the new Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services. Councillor, I am certain that you will be a valuable addition to the team.

Speaker, City Manager Achmat Ebrahim has extended his sick leave for another month. On behalf of the City I wish him a speedy recovery. In the interim, Mike Richardson will be Acting City Manager and I would like to extend him our support during a very important time for Cape Town.

Speaker, for the sixth consecutive year the City received an unqualified audit opinion, an indication of the City's robust financial systems. The reputation of the City regarding sound accounting practice has led to the Accountant-General entering into an agreement with the City to train its personnel.

National Treasury felt that the confirmation of the City's Credit Rating, by Moody's International, an independent rating agency, was a further vote of confidence in the City's finances.

Speaker, Treasury concurred with the findings of the independent Empowerment survey that the City had done well in the delivery of services to its residents and was well ahead of its peers in dealing with infrastructure backlogs. It was noted that the provision of housing and transport infrastructure are still a challenge, but it was understood that the backlogs were mostly in informal settlements and exacerbated by the migration of people from the rural areas and other Provinces looking for job opportunities.

The reduction in overall water demand by 26,6% in 2008/09 was acknowledged as being well ahead of the 20% target set by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. Treasury was concerned that the relatively low delivery of access to basic electricity was due to Eskom not delivering according to their mandate.

The spending levels as reflected in both the 2008/09 audit outcome as well as the 2009/10 mid-year assessment were considered good and an indication of sound  planning and adequate capacity to spend by the City.

Generally, the overall view was that the financial performance of the municipality over the 2008/9 financial year was satisfactory resulting in an unqualified audit opinion, and this achievement, followed by good spending on the capital and operating budgets for 2009/10 resulted in actual service delivery performance of Cape Town being good, in many cases over the minimum standard required.

Speaker, I would like to congratulate all the City's officials for their hard work and commitment to good governance. We are well aware that there is room for much improvement, but this is an indication that we are moving in the right direction.

Speaker, we are at the crossroads with the provision of toilets in Makhaza in Khayelitsha. 

On the one hand the community confirms repeatedly they want the City to continue with the provision of the toilets.  On the other hand they bow to pressure from the ANC Youth League and other disruptive elements to disown the work and vandalise the equipment.

We can no longer continue on this path of confrontation and sabotage.  Money that is badly need for service delivery is wasted through damage for the benefit of certain agendas.

After a meeting with the Ward Councillor, representatives of the ANC Youth League and the Ward Development Forum I undertook a personal survey of all the households with unenclosed toilets.  I was assisted by Cllr Stuart Pringle, the Sub-Council Chairperson and staff from the Housing Directorate. More than 95% of the residents accepted the City's offer of material and support to erect the enclosures.

A follow-up meeting with the ANC Youth League, the Ward Councillor and Sub-Council Chairperson was held to give personal feedback of the results of the survey. It was decided at that meeting that the erection of the enclosures by the City will proceed after the community had been informed of the outcome.

Yesterday we started with this process with the support of the vast majority of the community, only to have the structures damaged yet again.Mr Speaker we cannot continue in this way. I am therefore asking the ANC as the governing party to publicly confirm by close of business on Thursday 27 May that they will constrain their Youth League. They must prevent the League from intimidating the community and from organising this resistance and damage to public property paid for with public money. They must allow the City to proceed with service delivery as demanded by the community.

Speaker, on Wednesday last week I with members of the National and Local Transport Portfolio Committee, Mayoral Cmmittee and the media, inspected our key integrated rapid transit(IRT) system World Cup infrastructure. We took a tour on our new buses and visited the airport, civic and stadium stations. In describing the visit later that evening I used the word, ‘AWESOME'". We have achieved so much in such a short period of time and I am so proud of the team. Although the project's focus is currently on meeting a component of Cape Town's World Cup Transport Services this is a project which will be much greater than our World Cup commitments.  The roll-out of a reliable public transport system has the potential to transform our city and connect Capetonians to opportunities and unite previously divided communities. It is for this reason that we have named the new system, MYCiTi.

The name MYCiTi was chosen because we want to encourage a sense of belonging and ownership when Capetonians are passengers or refer to the service. It identifies a user-friendly service which transports people safely, conveniently, reliably and helps them avoid being stuck in traffic. It aims to make users feel proud to live in a world-class city with modern facilities. MYCiTi aims to offer people greater choice and quality in their own public transport system.

As the IRT rolls out across Cape Town in the coming years, it aims to be much more than a transport system, it aims to give citizens a sense of control, ownership, greater choice, mobility and access to opportunities.

Although the primary benefit of the IRT service will be for passengers, the wider benefit will ultimately extend to all residents and visitors as the service will unlock economic opportunities. It will make the city more accessible.

The IRT will add value to Cape Town by making it a better place to live and work in. It makes Cape Town a better place in which to invest resources, both human and financial. The name MYCiTi is multi-lingual, easy to use for Capetonians and visitors alike, and unique to Cape Town with its play on the city's name.

The slogan, ‘siyajikeleza, laat wiel, going places' is obviously related to transport, but it also represents other themes central to the IRT service including a sense of achievement and of going places in one's life. The slogan also extends to Cape Town itself, as a city that is ready to go and compete on the international stage.

The Airport City Shuttle service and inner city distribution service of MyCiTi launches this coming Saturday 29 May at 4 a.m. I will be travelling on the bus later on during the day with Cllr Elizabeth Thompson to celebrate the launch of this service. I would like to encourage all City staff who are travelling from Cape Town Airport on City business to use the Airport City Shuttle as well as the inner city service which will allow users of the service to move around Cape Town's CBD.

However, criticism of this important project continues. Unsubstantiated accusations have been with regard to the procurement of professional service providers and contractors.

All appointments for the Integrated Rapid Transit Project have been made in accordance with the City's Supply Chain Management Policy, and the Municipal Finance Management Act. The IRT Project has been the subject of a forensic audit and a Due Diligence Study. No incidence of irregular practice has come to light.

I would also like to report the value of work awarded to Historically Disadvantaged Individuals working on the IRT project and measured in terms of the Supply Chain Management Policy's Preferential Procurement System is 40 %.

Speaker, in conclusion I request that should anyone have any substantive concerns or evidence of irregular procurement activities that they bring this to the attention of the City Manager immediately for him to investigate.

Speaker, Metro Police and Traffic Services have been hard at work with numerous operations having been successfully executed over the past few months. In April alone, Traffic Services made 184 arrests for people driving under the influence, 32 for reckless driving, 154 Taxi-related offences and 21 for other types of offences.

During the course of Metro Police duties which included roadblocks, vehicle patrols and various other operations, a total of 392 arrests were made. Of these arrests 81 were for the possession of narcotics and

196 for driving while under the influence.

Metro Police officials also issued 12 599 traffic fines of which 2 190 were for taxi-related infringements.

Law Enforcement issued 610 fines of which 312 were for offences relating to Public Places.

Metro Police also recovered eight stolen vehicles and confiscated various dangerous weapons and ammunition.

Speaker, the last eight months during which the Vice Squad have been operating have demonstrated to Cape Town the undeniable linkages between prostitution, human trafficking, organised crime syndicates and drugs and other crime, as well as the undeniable exploitation of vulnerable women and increasingly younger prostitutes, including child prostitution.

It has become clear that the City has to act to protect the women and children in the city from exploitation and crime and to curb the growth in human trafficking and the commensurate growth in the organised crime groups who drive this and benefit from it.

We must curb the growth of these crime syndicates and trafficking rings. We have gone to great lengths to protect our citizens from this growing international scourge which has now become the most lucrative organised criminal activity in the world and has even surpassed drug smuggling. In years to come this investment will prove to have been invaluable and other cities in South Africa will regret not having taken timeous action.

Speaker, I would like to congratulate the entire Safety and Security Directorate for their efforts.

Speaker, I am pleased to inform you that significant progress has been made in the allocation of church sites in Khayelitsha and other areas in the metro. City officials have been working tirelessly over the last two months to prepare the sites for disposal by public tender. To date all 45 Ikapa church site applications have been forwarded to the City's Planning and Building Development Management Department for zoning and subdivision. Of these, ten sites have been forwarded to Province for processing in terms of environmental legislation.

Site inspections for the 68 sites in Khayelitsha have been completed and the remaining processes are being carried out. Another 16 sites are ready for tender, but the City cannot proceed on 11 of these sites because they are illegally occupied. City officials will be hosting a workshop with church leaders tomorrow to explain to them the very strict legislation governing the disposal of City-owned land. The workshop will also seek to find a solution to the 11 sites currently illegally occupied. The City will make it clear that the sale of land by public tender cannot proceed if the sites are illegally occupied.

Speaker, the City is calling on all illegal occupiers of land to please vacate it so that the City can proceed with the process of public tender.

Speaker, the last remaining displaced foreigners left the Youngsfield Military Base last month after the closure of the Blue Waters site near Strandfontein the week before.

The 64 people at Youngsfield left without incident. All municipal services have been stopped, security withdrawn and all rental tents, toilets and other equipment cleared from the site.

The Metro Police have handed the Blue Waters camp site back to the City's Sport, Recreation and Amenities Department to repair damage estimated at over R8 million before re-opening it as a holiday resort for residents.

Younsgfield was established with four other safety sites after the outbreak of xenophobic violence in May 2008. Of the 64 people who remained at Youngsfield, 58 accepted a cash payout of R1 000 from the City to assist them with relocation; five accepted offers of legal assistance and one refused all offers made. The South African National Defence Force reclaimed its military base on 29 April.

No children were separated from their parents and food parcels were distributed to all those who left willingly. There were no incidents of violence.

Speaker, the efficiency of this operation was due to the cooperative efforts of the Housing and Safety and Security Directorates. I thank them for this.

Speaker, there are a mere 16 days left before the World Cup. We are confident that we will host a spectacular tournament.

Speaker, Cape Town will launch its World Cup activities with a wonderful street parade and concert on the Grand Parade on 10 June starring the likes of Eddie Grant. This is the day before our first match.  I invite Capetonians and visitors to join in, have fun, walk tall and show our support for Bafana Bafana.

We have a Fan Fest on the Grand Parade in Cape Town, a Fan Walk to link it to the stadium and four fan jols. This is Cape Town's name for public viewing areas. The fan jols will be at OR Tambo hall in Khayelitsha, the Swartklip Sports complex in Mitchells Plain, the Bellville Velodrome and Vygieskraal in Athlone. I urge Councillors, Capetonians and visitors to visit all these places and to experience all the faces and places of Cape Town.

Mr. Speaker, this is our last Council Meeting before the World Cup. It is time to take stock of our journey which started in 2004 when South Africa won the bid.

It was just more than four years ago when the decision was taken to build the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point. Cape Town was named as a semi-final host city. We did not have the required 68 000 seater stadium. We could not upgrade an existing stadium to this capacity.

The City's World Cup Team faced a difficult and challenging task. We had to build a new world-class stadium, upgrade our air, rail and road infrastructure, public spaces and facilities. We had to devise detailed transport, security and operational plans. The plans and the facilities had to be tested. We had to host several major events, including the Final Draw in December 2009.

There were three public approval processes before building work on the stadium could start. Some people were strongly opposed to the building of the stadium and its location. The City was taken to court, but the challenge fizzled out. All host cities faced cost overruns on their stadiums. This was the result of an overheated construction industry, rising material costs and conservative percentages for escalation and contingencies determined by the Treasury.

South Africa and Cape Town faced tough questions from critics as well as local and international media. We were grilled about readiness, ability, crime, transport, electricity supplies, strikes, location, viability, budgets, benefits and the legacy of the event. Some of the challenges seemed almost insurmountable.

Speaker, our work is not done. We have to sustain the momentum of a successful World Cup. We must consolidate and optimise the almost R14 billion of infrastructure Cape Town gained. We must reap the harvest of more tourism and investment from this global marketing exposure. Our stadium operator Sail/Stadefrance will have to work hard to attract world class sport and entertainment events to make our beautiful stadium a success.

We overcame and achieved what we had to in order to host the World Cup. The stadium was delivered on time after only 33 months of construction. Our stadium has been hailed as the "perfect venue" for the World Cup and our Final Draw as "the best ever" by none other than Mr. Jerome Valcke, Secretary-General of FIFA.

Our residents and visitors supported the four test events in the stadium and left with glowing compliments.

I would like to extend my personal gratitude to Ian Neilson who chaired the Mayoral World Cup Sub-Committee with leadership, courage and determination. I would like to thank Mike Marsden who steered the City World Cup Project Team through very tough times and milestones of achievement, his three World Cup Directors, the project team and all the line departments who will deliver this great event through their services.

They were ably supported by the Mayoral Sub-Committee, the City Manager in particular and the Executive Management Team.

I am sure that I speak on behalf of this Council and the residents of this great city when I say to you: you have done Cape Town proud. You have made Africa's greatest city ready to host the world.

I now table the budget for 2010/2011.

Thank you.

Statement issued by Communication Department, City of Cape Town, May 25 2010

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