City's new path for encouraging economic growth

This week in council, I announced my intention to bring the formation of an Economic Development Agency (EDA) to the chamber for debate soon. In due course, councillors will have an opportunity to discuss the important issues around its establishment and how, if it is approved, we can use it to leverage maximum economic effect for the city.

To get to this point, there has been a lot of high-level engagement with a number of different stakeholders, including the provincial government.

When I came into office, I did so with the pledge that this administration would look to create the enabling environment in which investment could grow and jobs could be created.

Unemployment, which entrenches historical poverty, is the biggest challenge facing South Africa, and Cape Town, today.

Local Government, which has a constitutional mandate for economic and social development, must be about realising what the abilities to facilitate economic growth are and using the levers it has at its disposal to help people.

We must have a holistic picture of the issues we face in the long-term dictates of our mandate. If we are so short-sighted as to think that issues of delivery happen in isolation of economic conditions, then we will ultimately not be able to provide to people as we allow ourselves to be overcome by larger socio-economic forces.

If, however, we take the long-view of government, we realise that all factors must be balanced against each other and that to provide services to the best of our ability; we must simultaneously provide an environment of opportunity in which people can provide for themselves.

We should never just accept that people born poor must remain victims of our history or structural inequality.

That is why I am so excited about the EDA. It will take some time to get off the ground fully, but it will be a nimble body of economic facilitation and direction.

And it will have maximum accountability. Based on a model developed in Barcelona, the EDA would work like a company with shareholders accountable for doing a particular job, including maximising economic and investment potential, marketing, coordinating integration between regions and a range of other functions.

The discussions at the moment would see the City as a founding partner which means it will have the authority to see that the City's interests are being served and that we are getting value for our investment.

We must recognise that in an era where city-regions act as the nodal points for competitive economic activity, Cape Town has a central role to play in this part of the country.

It is the nexus area that drives growth, provides skills, and supplies the resources for development within its own boundaries and immediately without.

We need to take advantage of this position and integrate our efforts with surrounding regions, so that we can all maximise our rewards, both for our respective economic developments and for our people who will ultimately benefit.

But if the EDA will help facilitate certain economic strategies, I have also been focused on consolidating the overall governance strategy for this city.

This weekend, my Mayoral Committee and I will be meeting to discuss the new strategic objectives for the city that will define this term in office.

The City has done a great deal over the past 5 years but it is only right that as the new term gets underway, we ensure that we consolidate our efforts to deliver on the mandate given to us by the people of Cape Town.

This weekend, each Mayoral Committee member will be giving a presentation on the strategic direction that they are mapping out for their portfolios.

The other Mayoral Committee members and I will provide input and discussion.

Not only will this allow for a range of perspectives to be incorporated, thus strengthening conclusions, but we will also be able to view the entire picture of delivery.

That picture begins with the recognition that portfolios do not work in isolation of one another. Each of their functions impacts on the other, though recognisably sometimes more directly in certain cases than others.

To provide an example: to make the city even safer, one of the pillars of this government, we cannot just consider security issues alone.

Rather, we have to place security issues in a broader social context and look at, for instance, what work social development can do to help off-set the social effects of crime.

I am looking forward to healthy, robust and constructive engagement. This is the team that drives delivery for our citizens and it is important that we consolidate our efforts to ensure that we are doing all that we can to serve.

I am also pleased to say that we are at an advanced stage of planning for me to begin my ‘At The Coalface,' campaign, where I will be going out to meet City employees at the places where they work and deliver services.

It is too easily forgotten that every day, without fanfare, thousands of City employees make sure that Cape Town has electricity, clean water, the refuse collected, waste water treated and sick people attended to.

Government shouldn't only be about sitting in council and making decisions. It should also be about dealing directly with issues of service delivery and leading from the front. In so doing, I will be able to ensure that we are meeting the expectations of the people of Cape Town.

This article by Patricia de Lille first appeared in Cape Town This Week, the mayor's weekly online newsletter.

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