It's all about jobs
These are difficult times. Unemployment seems to remain at the very least constant. Dependency on grants is at an all-time high. Relations between commerce and the state seem strained. And the threat of a possible double-dip recession looms large. But it is when times are darkest that you realise that you need a little faith to get you through. And not some false comfort: what is needed is the kind of faith that sustains us at even the best of times.
On Saturday I will be leaving for Taiwan where we hope to be named as the World Design Capital for 2014. After that, I will be meeting with the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, in his great city and at his invitation to discuss the approach of cities to fostering entrepreneurship.
With mayors from major cities around the world and a range of experts, including several from Columbia University, we will be comparing notes and exploring best practice through several days of engagements. And I will tell Mayor Bloomberg that what cities need is a little faith: faith in business. It is only the market, often supported by cities such as Cape Town with infrastructure-led growth, that can truly lift people out of poverty and give them the dignity that they deserve.
We just have to learn how to trust in it and let it do what it does better than any other state or civil actor- create the kind of growth that generates employment. This administration's creed is to get out of the way of business for it is only business that can create the sustainable jobs that this city and our country so desperately need.
For too long, state actors at all levels have tried to dictate what the market should do and intervene in an area where they have, at best, limited skills. We must realise that different components of society do different things.