Cape Town Mayor reflects on the highs and lows of 2020; looks ahead to new year
3 December 2020
Colleagues, fellow councillors, members of the public, and media, good morning, and welcome to this last council session for 2020.
Before we start today I would like to send my condolences to the family, friends, loved ones and all the fans on the passing of local Bafana Bafana star Anele Ngcongca, as well as City lifeguard, Thokozani Mthethwa, who dedicated his life to helping others.
Speaker, as we convene this council session for the last time this year, I think it is important to reflect on the unprecedented challenges this City has faced, as well as the many successes that we were still able to celebrate.
Firstly, I want to applaud all our staff who were acknowledged at this year’s City Awards – you are our ambassadors and I hope that you will continue to lead by example and inspire your colleagues.
I also want to thank every councillor and city official for their commitment to delivering the best services in the country. This commitment showed in the Auditor General’s report, granting us our 16th consecutive unqualified audit for the 2018/2019 financial year. Many now take these findings for granted, but clean and effective governance does not just happen. It requires hard work and putting the needs of our residents first.
Secondly, I think it is important to mention some of the accolades bestowed on the City of Cape Town this year. According to the latest Ratings Afrika sustainability survey conducted in July 2020, the City of Cape Town is the only metro that strengthened its financial sustainability significantly over the past five years and is the only metro that can be considered sustainable with the capacity to absorb the financial shocks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite pressure from the impact of COVID-19 on our residents, our economy, and our resources, the City’s financial health continues to reflect favourably which is an indication that the City’s financial resources are appropriately managed.
The City has significantly lower debt levels than many of the other metros and municipalities in South Africa. This helps to reduce the cost of services to communities as a result of reduced interest and capital charges, and is one of the reasons why our rates increases were among the lowest of all metros this year.
The City of Cape Town was also acknowledged as the most trusted metro in South Africa according to Consulta’s 2020 Citizen Satisfaction Index, which measures trust and satisfaction by residents in their municipalities. The report notes: ‘Of the eight metros polled, Cape Town has once again emerged as the best performing metro on the overall Citizen Satisfaction for ‘Large Metros’ recording the highest score for the seventh consecutive year.
And on top of these acknowledgements of our good and clean governance, our beautiful City was also awarded Best Events and Festival Destination in the World, by the World Travel Awards earlier this week.
Lastly, all of this happened during one of the most challenging years the world has faced in recent history. The global COVID-19 pandemic has left almost no city untouched and we have had to adapt rapidly to a new way of doing business.
The City was able to transition the way we deliver services, while developing new approaches that allowed us to continue working when national lockdowns placed severe restraints on everyone.
Our efforts to find solutions and adapt our way of working was acknowledged by the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA) who awarded the City for its COVID-19 Dynamic Operations Framework during their virtual Annual Awards ceremony. The City was recognised and rewarded for the Best Risk Management Initiative within the Local Government sector.
This is not to say that challenges do not still exist, as the national lockdown placed severe restrictions on many of our staff’s ability to deliver services. One area that was affected quite significantly was our Roads Department, who, under normal circumstances would have had a heavy rainy season to deal with when looking to repair potholes and resurface roads in need of maintenance.
Compounding one of the heaviest rainy seasons in recent years was the fact that they were not deemed to be essential services by the national government’s lockdown regulations, so they were unable to fix our roads when we needed them most.
As soon as the levels of lockdown allowed more staff to return to work, we immediately put plans in place to get our teams back on the road without delay.
I have personally joined many of the teams across our City making sure that all potholes are repaired as quickly as possible. While we still have some way to go, I am sure many residents are already seeing that our roads are once again starting to look as good as they have always been.
Another challenge we have experienced is the long queues at revenue offices. This is a country-wide problem and is due to the COVID-19 backlogs that were caused by the national COVID-19 lockdown, as well as the national regulations we are required to enforce to protect our staff and customers.
Despite this, our staff have managed to process approximately one million license renewal and registration applications out of the 1,3 million registered vehicles in Cape Town since June. This would normally be done over a 12-month period.
Our staff have worked extremely hard to process double the volume of transactions they would usually do under normal conditions. Staff have been redeployed, and officials have been working at night and over weekends to clear the backlog.
I would like to salute our staff for their hard work and commitment to reducing the COVID-19 backlog, and urge residents to please continue to be patient, adhere to the necessary protocols when visiting our revenue offices, and if possible, try to renew their licences online via e-Services instead of visiting an office, especially now that we are experiencing a COVID-19 resurgence.
Speaker, while we have been able to put measures in place to deal with many of the unexpected challenges we faced this year, there are some challenges that continue to place a strain on our resources, and which we have effectively been hamstrung from dealing with due to regulatory and political reasons.
Speaker, I am talking about land invasions. The City of Cape Town is currently facing down a highly-publicised legal charge to dismantle the last lines of defence against land invasion attempts.
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), EFF and disingenuous NGO groupings are targeting the ability to protect property during land invasion attempts, arguing that landowners should not have the right to remove incomplete and unoccupied structures without a court order.
This well-established right – known as counter-spoliation – is currently available to all landowners and regularly mandated by the courts in orders granted for the protection of land from unlawful occupation.
Last week, the City argued strongly in the High Court that it is both constitutional and essential for all landowners to act swiftly and without the need for a court order when lawfully protecting land during attempted invasions. The PIE Act requirement of a court order applies only to occupied structures, not to empty or half-built ones.
Urgent action is often required to thwart mostly well-organised land invasion attempts driven by illegal plot-selling, or “shack-farming” as it is known in communities.
The SAHRC/EFF not only argue for a lengthy and burdensome court determination before a land invasion can be stopped in its tracks, they also want the entire Anti-Land Invasion Unit and related support services declared unconstitutional.
The SAHRC/EFF are in effect seeking to tie the hands of public and private landowners, to the detriment of all law-abiding citizens. They claim to argue on behalf of the poor. But while we all suffer, it is often vulnerable residents who suffer most from the impact of illegal land occupations.
Counter-spoliation preserves the rule of law and enables the City to give effect to its constitutional obligations to progressively realise rights under the Constitution. We owe it to future generations to protect land from unlawful occupation. This enables us to plan for the long-term use of land for schools, homes, clinics, transport infrastructure and community facilities.
I have made no secret of the City’s intent to fight this matter every step of the way in the courts if needs be. We are currently seeking direct access to the SCA to appeal the dangerous interim relief granted, while we oppose the main SAHRC/EFF application in the Western Cape High Court.
We are grateful for the support of the Western Cape Government – who have joined the High Court matter – and the South African Police Services (SAPS) who have been opposing the SAHRC/EFF application all along.
Speaker, we will not be deterred by those who seek to undermine the rule of law, and will continue to stand up for our residents who respect the law, just as we are doing by taking the EFF to court for the damages they caused during their recent protest action.
While addressing these challenges, we continue to focus on rebuilding our economy after the devastating effects of the national coronavirus lockdown.
We know that this festive season will not be the same as previous years. We have had to accept that the HSBC World Rugby Sevens tournament will not be visiting our City this year as the entire competition was cancelled.
So let’s get through 2020 and look forward to 2021 as we welcome the British and Irish Lions Rugby tour, and hopefully the return of the World Sevens rugby series too.
As the World’s best events and festival destination and with Cape Town being approved as a user of the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC), COVID-19 safety stamp, I am sure we will see many conferences, sporting events and exciting festivals next year.
With the Mayoral Visible Service Delivery Acceleration programme getting underway in communities across the City, many residents will be seeing welcome improvements in terms of urban upgrade over the coming months.
Before I close off today, I want to thank each and every councillor here today, all the City officials, in particular our front-line staff, and our many partners, for keeping our City running during one of the toughest years we have ever faced. I also want to send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one this year.
Please be safe over the festive season. Don’t drink and drive, it just isn’t worth it. And with the coronavirus still infecting many vulnerable residents, please play your part to limit the spread and observe the COVID-19 regulations.
Speaker, may next year be a better year for all of us.
Thank you
Issued by Greg Wagner, Spokesperson to the Executive Mayor, 3 December 2020
