SPEECH BY THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN, ALDERMAN PATRICIA DE LILLE, AT THE FULL COUNCIL MEETING ON 29 AUGUST 2012
Mr Speaker,
Good morning, goeie môre, molweni.
I would like to have a moment of silence for the people who lost their lives in Marikana and the four people who lost their lives during the recent service delivery protests in Cape Town.
We remember Sandile Hoko, 57 years old.
We remember Nhlanhla Ngalo, 20 months old.
We remember David Sass, 52 years old.
We remember Siyaxolela Bongco, 30 years old.
We extend our condolences to their families.
May we have a moment of silence please.
We know the history of this country. It is a history of discrimination. It is a history of the have and have-nots. It was a country that treated citizens differently and gave opportunities to some and not others. It was an unfair and unjust place for many. That South Africa was shaped over centuries. That South Africa was not born overnight. It will not be dismantled overnight.
18 years ago, we voted in this country's first democratic election. Our votes were not just ballots. Regardless of the party supported, our votes were endorsements of a process of change for a better future. But we knew that the process was a long-term project that would only succeed with the active participation of the majority of citizens in South Africa. The conditions that our history made would not be completely reversed in 18 years.
That is the situation we face in Cape Town today, as do all other South African cities from Johannesburg to eThekwini. We live with the legacy of apartheid spatial planning that physically entrenched social divisions in our cities. So of course there are ‘leafy suburbs,' largely built during the apartheid years and not in the past 18 years of our democracy. Of course there are areas that seem neglected by comparison next to these.
It is no secret that the houses and building in some areas are better than those in others. Those area profiles were decades in the making. From them flow the social patterns of our city, from where people go to school, to the kinds of roads and facilities they have access to.
That is the historical story of Cape Town. It is the historical story of Johannesburg. It is the historical story of eThekwini. It is the historical story of South Africa. But that is not the end of the story.
Government can only do so much to change the society in which we live. There are a range of stakeholders that have to work to achieve change, from the private sector to civil society. The kind of meaningful social change we want to see activated at the level of the individual requires more than just government to be involved. But make no mistake, government does have a role to play.
In as much as we can, with the resources we have, we try and change this city into one for all of its citizens. We use our finances to try and address the divisions of the past and work to counter historical imbalances. It is a philosophy that informs everything we do, from crafting our strategic Integrated Development Plan (IDP), to the programmes that support it to the way that we budget.
Because we know that to achieve a lasting reconciliation between a once-divided population, as we set out to do in 1994, we have to have redress policies in place that are focused towards maximum delivery to all of our citizens in all of their diversity.
That is why this DA government cross-subsidises services to the poor more than any other in the country. We provide the highest standards of service in the country, to all of our citizens.
This extends from those who pay rates to those who cannot afford to pay rates. It extends from the leafy suburbs to informal settlements. Mr Speaker, allow me to share with this Council the number of households that receive free basic services from the City of Cape Town every month.
These are numbers extracted from our information registries cross-referenced with our Finance Directorate, line Departments, registries and survey information. The City of Cape Town provides free basic services to over 1,1 million people in formal households. In addition, the City of Cape Town provides free basic services to just over 820 000 people in households in informal settlements.
Calculated for persons per average households, the City of Cape Town thus provides free basic services to almost 2 million people every month.
This in a city of 3,5 million people. Given the constitutional mandate of local government to provide basic services to citizens, we are doing our best and indeed more than any other metro to address the imbalances of the past.
I understand that people are frustrated and tired of waiting. I understand the conditions that some people live in. And I understand the desire for change. I know their frustration and I know their suffering. Like many others, I was born into it. I lived with it. I experienced it. And I fought against it for change.
Having been there from the days when we struggled to change this country, I know the challenges we still face. I know the work we still have to do. And as mayor, I am leading that work, as is this DA government and this DA-majority Council. And this DA government is giving free basic services to 2 million people a month.
So I resent these Johnny-come-latelies who tell me about the struggle and that the fight against apartheid is not over. They remind me of those cowards who only joined the struggle on the 2nd of February 1990 after former president FW de Klerk made his speech unbanning political organisations. I get angry when so-called youth organisations tell me that they will make this city ungovernable and lecture me about fairness and dignity. I get irritated when union leaders try and tell me about social justice.
I don't remember any of them fighting with us back when we really were fighting for dignity. And I don't remember any of them telling their communities that destroying services provided to the poor only affects the poor. For all of our redistribution, for all of our budget allocations, there is only so much money at our disposal.
When we have to reallocate money for services that have been destroyed, we are taking money away from other services. That money is not replaced. And poor communities are the ones who suffer the most.
They need the City and the City needs them to use the services provided, not break them, because those breakages have the greatest effect on them. Budgeting with public finances, allocating money to repairs- these are all long exercises. So when we have to wait to repair R20 million worth of damage to roads and traffic lights, the wait affects those communities and those people who need those facilities to safely go about their lives.
We need leadership in this city, not violent confrontation. Because the failure to contain anger and channel it democratically is also a failure of leadership which local government is meant to provide.
This government provides leadership with budget allocations at the highest level. We lead with our extensive social and redress programmes that address historical imbalances, such as work opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP); janitorial services; providing services to backyarders; the electrification of informal settlements; additional allocations to poor wards; and providing free basic services. But we need councillors in wards where there is unrest and division to lead there. And Mr Speaker, they are ANC wards. Councillors are supposed to be community leaders. Being a councillor does not mean earning a good salary just to come to one meeting a month.
It means working in your ward every day to provide leadership to your community. And if councillors cannot lead, then they must resign and allow others to do so. For my part, this DA government will continue to lead.
We will continue our mission to build a city that addresses the imbalances of the past and contains opportunities for the future. Mr Speaker, in that regard, I am pleased that coming before Council today is an item directly concerning our redress programme.
I have asked Council to approve the release of land in Cotton Road, Simon's Town, to the Regional Lands Claim Commission. The land will be released at no cost to the Commission.
Owned by the City, the land will ultimately go to the claimants, the family of the late Mr Gamat Aziz who was dispossessed of his land as a result of the enforcement of the Group Areas Act. If this item is passed by this Council, this will be another powerful example of this government's commitment to social change and reconciliation at work. And it will be one more step towards the Cape Town of the future.
And it will be a future that we can build together, without division as we have shown in our name changing process, which has been the most inclusive in the country. We have engaged in an extensive public participation process, more so than any other metro. We have listened. We have led. We are reconciling.
We have shown this by proposing to leave a number of road names unchanged where there was overwhelming public opposition. And we have proposed to change names where there has been enormous support.
Together, we will move forward to ensure that new facilities are named to reflect our unique history and build a new shared heritage. In conclusion, we know our past.
We know our history. But we also know our future. We know what we want to achieve for every citizen in this city.
We know that, as painful as it is to realise, to achieve the future, we have years more to work to overcome the past. But to achieve that long-term project of 1994, we have to remain determined, committed and united. This Council must play its role in building the future.
Those who serve here must lead, every day, in their communities. The project of dignity, opportunity and equality needs us all, now more than ever.
Thank you.
Issued by the City of Cape Town, August 29 2012
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