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Welcome to our council meeting for the draft 2008/2009 budget.

I hope that you have had a chance over the Easter weekend to enjoy some time with your families, and that you have taken the opportunity to rest.

I would also like to extend a special word of welcome to the delegation of senior government officials, politicians and parliamentarians from Nigeria that has joined us in the gallery today to observe this council’s proceedings. I hope that you will find this an interesting experience.

At the same time, I would like to welcome today, Councillor Johnny Heuvel, and congratulate him on his victory in the Macassar by-election.

Speaker, before I table the draft budget and IDP I would like to make a few general comments.

Firstly, I ask this council to acknowledge the tragic loss of the City’s Executive Director for Health, Dr Ivan Toms.

We will remember Dr Toms for his tremendous energy, commitment and enthusiasm for helping people and communities in Cape Town.

Under his leadership, his department exceed its own targets for reducing Cape Town’s infant mortality, and containing HIV/AIDS and TB infection rates, some of the biggest crises that we face. He was also committed to extending the network of clinics to all communities, giving people access to basic health care.

He will be remembered by the people of Cape Town for the work he did over the years to help build and support community structures in some of our most disadvantaged communities, where he worked tirelessly under difficult conditions to reduce gangsterism and domestic abuse.

On a personal note, I will remember him particularly for the time we worked closely together as activists during the 1980s.

The City will sorely miss our colleague, not only for his talent as a leader, but also for his friendship.

I am proposing that we appropriately honour his memory and begin the necessary processes to do so as soon as possible.

Secondly, I would like to ask this council to acknowledge the loss of life in fires around the city this week, including the death of an elderly woman and her three grandchildren in Gugulethu - one of a number of horrific tragedies involving fires that have occurred since our last Council meeting.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have died, and City officials have been working hard to control the fires and provide disaster relief.

I would like again to thank our fire fighters and disaster management teams for their efforts.

I would also like to announce that the City will offer substantial rewards to anyone who can provide information that leads to the conviction of arsonists.

This year we have had a number of devastating fires that have occurred under suspicious circumstances, and we must do whatever possible to apprehend people who deliberately set fires that so often destroy lives and property.

Finally, it is with some regret that I have asked for the item on the renaming of streets and public places to be withdrawn from the agenda today.

The policy drawn up and agreed to by all parties in the previous administration of Council includes two important points that we have had to consider in this regard.

Firstly, that names are focal points of symbolism, association and remembrance.

And secondly, that names provide opportunities either to promote community harmony or to perpetuate hurt and division. We obviously want to promote harmony and healing.

It is a sobering fact that many of the scars of our society run very deep and across the community spectrum strong views are still held about symbolic issues such as the names of streets and places. The process still has a way to go if we are to achieve its stated objectives and we would undermine these goals if we brought proposals here prematurely. This could perpetuate the hurt and division we want to avoid.

There is a very important task ahead that will assist all citizens to make informed and thoughtful choices and I hope that we can revisit the process in a way that will indeed provide Cape Town with opportunities to promote community harmony.

Turning to today’s agenda, the draft budget that we table has a very clear objective.

That is: to invest, on time, for the future.

We intend to do the opposite of Eskom.

Our proposed budget prioritises spending on infrastructure and services to keep Cape Town’s economy growing.

It will allow us to act before there is a crisis, not after the fact.

This is in line with our Integrated Development Plan’s continued focus on infrastructure led economic growth, and it builds on the priorities set out in last year’s budget

After last year’s record R2 billion expenditure on capital projects, we propose to continue to increase spending on maintenance and new infrastructure in terms of the City’s core constitutional mandate.

This includes roads, especially upgrades to major intersections, water and sanitation, electricity distribution, and public facilities.

We are therefore again proposing a large capital budget of R4 billion.

At the same time, we are also budgeting to fill vacancies that are causing shortfalls in service delivery, and budgeting for the next phases of the organisational realignment process.

The first phase of the realignment brought a proper organisational structure into the City administration, the first phase of pay parity and greater stability. We have also filled about 2800 critical vacancies so far this financial year and will fill more in the remaining months.

The result was an increase in spending on infrastructure and services in nearly every directorate. Annual housing delivery, for example, went from about 3500 opportunities by mid 2005 to 7500 by mid 2007. And capital expenditure went from about R1 billion in 2004/5 to about R2 billion in 2006/7.

In addition, the Markinor staff survey that we recently commissioned taught us a lot, and we will learn from the results. Our staff are understandably reflecting the strain of many years of false starts in organisational restructuring and instability. On the positive side, it was gratifying to see that over 80% of staff have responded positively to their job definitions, and two-thirds expressed loyalty to the City.

The City’s annual resignation rate of 4.4% is also well within the South African industry best practice benchmark of 8%.

In spite of this progress, many of our directorates do not yet have sufficient people with the right skills in the right places to spend all of our capital budgets and provide the necessary services. That is a serious matter and must get the attention it deserves.

And the Markinor survey indicated four areas of concern which we need to address, including the need for employees to receive more recognition, the need for better relationships with supervisors and managers, the need for greater care and concern from their employer, and the need for overall fairness.

This is not surprising given that Cape Town has been through six years of unguided restructuring since the amalgamation of 2000, and another 2 years of organisational realignment.

We are therefore working to identify and fill the gaps that remain, and to ensure that each of our staff members is optimally placed, appropriately paid and acknowledged according to their performance. There are some acknowledged problem areas which are receiving our attention.

We want to make our organisation as efficient and as motivated as possible.

This process, together with hikes in operating costs (especially fuel and electricity) means we need to increase our operating budget by 11.7% from last year to R15.8 billion for 2008/2009.

An additional R120 million is provided for newly created posts to boost capacity.

And R90 million has also been allocated to address the second phase of pay parity.

Our total proposed budget for this financial year will therefore be R19.8 billion.

These figures comprise all income streams, including grants from central government.

Our IDP reflects our rationale for budgeting in this manner.

By investing in infrastructure and services across the city, and by investing in an organisation that can deliver, we intend to make Cape Town a more attractive destination for investors, both at home and abroad.

Across the city, but particularly in older regions, more will be spent on repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure and on cleansing.

In the outer ring of the city, where new development takes place, and in established areas where densification is occurring, capital projects will be aimed at reducing traffic congestion, increasing sewerage treatment capacity and extending the availability of services.

This will help to ensure that development is not constrained.

The principle that we are applying is simple.

Investors create jobs, and help to drive development. We must make it easy for them to do so.

To support this objective, our revised IDP for 2008/9 also incorporates proposals that were not in the first version, including the formation of a new Development Facilitation Unit to support investors and help to make investment in Cape Town easier, the development of a fibre optic network in the metropolitan area to bring down the cost of telecommunications, the development of the first phase of a Bus Rapid Transit programme with dedicated bus lanes to improve public transport, and the formation of district coordination teams reporting to Sub Councils on service programmes and responses to complaints from residents in order to make the City more accountable.

The revised IDP also contains a proposal for a new energy efficiency strategy to deal with mounting fuel costs and electricity shortage, the objective of gaining housing accreditation to accelerate housing delivery, and a plan to build stronger ties with tertiary education institutions in order to share information and encourage scarce skills development.

The bottom line is that we want there to be more opportunities for everyone, especially the poor and unemployed.

Without investment, our city will stagnate, the ranks of the unemployed will grow, and poverty will get worse.

South Africa’s shortage of electricity generation capacity shows what happens to employment and economic growth when government fails to invest on time.

Five years ago virtually no one worried about our electricity supply, not even cabinet, because it was always there.

Now it is near the top of everyone’s agenda.

Thousands of mine workers are likely to lose their jobs because of Eskom’s 90% to 95% rationing of production time.

Companies and their workers in most sectors are losing billions due to stock loss and production delays during power outages.

Foreign investors are being told not to establish operations in South Africa until after 2012. So projects like the R20 billion aluminium smelter that Rio Tinto was to build in Coega may no longer happen because of unreliable electricity supply, at a cost of 6000 temporary and 1000 permanent jobs.

Eskom’s refusal to grant electricity permits is also thwarting new business ventures that would create thousands of jobs, and risks holding up delivery of social housing.

And, at the worst possible time, when our economy is struggling with high inflation due to global market turmoil and high oil prices, Eskom’s proposed 53% hike in electricity tariffs could add an extra 2% to inflation.

This is the hard lesson that South Africa has had to learn from the Eskom saga.

And it is the poor that have suffered the most.

We will not let the same thing happen in Cape Town with the infrastructure for which we are responsible, such as water distribution, sewerage, electricity reticulation or municipal roads.

We are investing, on time, but only just.

Years of neglect of infrastructure, and years of populist budgets with below inflation increases, meant that last year we had to introduce radical changes to our budget in order to kick start our new programme.

We had to increase our rates and service charges substantially for this purpose and I would like to thank the vast majority of Cape Town’s ratepayers who have diligently paid their rates and service charges. They have enabled us to invest in the future and to provide generous subsidies to provide free basic services for all.

This year, we have to increase our rates and service charges again to continue the work we are doing.

But our proposed increases in rates and service charges are not as sharp as last year.

They remain relatively close to the projected inflation rate, which the South African Bureau of Economic Research has forecast at an estimated 6.5% for the 2008/2009 financial year. This may change as the economic outlook in South Africa shifts, particularly after yesterday’s announcement by Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni of a 9.4% inflation figure for February.

The draft budget tabled today recommends an average 7.3% increase in rates, bringing the new charge to 0.493 c/R for residential properties and 0.924 c/R for commercial properties.

This is less than half of last year’s increase, and is only 0.8% above inflation. It is also consistent with Johannesburg’s new rates and approximately half those of Durban. We should further note that these other metropoles are now going through the challenging property valuations process that we initiated in 2002 and reviewed in 2006.

Our service charges similarly remain close to inflation.

For solid waste we have recommended an increase of 7.5%, which is 1% over inflation.

For water we have recommended an increase of 9.2%, which is 2.7% over inflation.

And our recommended sewerage tariff increase is 6%, which is 1.5% below inflation.

The only service charge that will have to increase substantially above the inflation rate is electricity, at a proposed 15%. This is based on Eskom’s demands, not ours. And with Eskom’s recent appeal to government for a hike in charges by as much as 53%, our proposal may still have to be adjusted accordingly.

Although Councillor Neilson will give more detail on the proposed allocation of funds in this budget, I would like to note a few key items here.

Our allocations for capital projects include R525 million for water distribution systems, R145 million for the Cape Flats Collector Sewer, and R92 million for the Fisantekraal wastewater treatment works.

We have also allocated R211 million for electricity distribution, R138 million for connection infrastructure, R68 million for the upgrade of the Roggebaai substation and R433 million for the development of new landfill sites.

We have proposed a R180 million allocation for land acquisition for new housing developments, over and above our funding for providing housing opportunities. Contrary to what is sometimes implied, we do not own any substantial land parcels where the demand for housing is greatest, in the Eastern Metropole. All land that we have in this area is either already under development or the subject of statutory processes in preparation for development. We therefore have to acquire new land.

In the roads and stormwater directorate R69 million has been put forward for the Hospital Bend interchange, and R50 million for the Strandfontein Road Upgrade, among others.

And for 2010 a total of R1 billion has been allocated, with R30 million for Green Point Promenade, R15 million for the Grand Parade, R15 million for other 2010 public sites, R26 million for Athlone Stadium and R14 million for the Khayelitsha Athletics stand.

In line with our IDP focus on infrastructure led economic growth, we have also put forward a 10% increase in funding for repairs and maintenance to R1.2 billion.

This includes, among others, repairs to roads, water pipe leaks, street lights and electricity reticulation systems.

On the operating side, we are budgeting nearly R300 million for filling vacancies in Trading Services and R32 million in Transport Roads and Stormwater to support our repairs and maintenance initiative, and our new infrastructure projects.

We are also making large increases in the budget allocations for safety and security. We propose an increase for traffic control from R179 million last year to R254 million for 2008/9. We propose an increase for law enforcement from R75 million to R95 million, and an increase in emergency services, including fire fighting, from R322 million to R392 million.

And a further R85 million has been put forward to fill vacancies in the Economic and Social Development Department.

These are the departments that have received the largest vacancy allocations in this budget, although provision has been made for nearly every directorate in the City.

While we must acknowledge where vacancies have an impact on the spending of our budgets, it is equally important for us to expose the series of untruths, in fact outright lies, from Provincial Ministers and the Premier himself on our spending of budgets.

First we had the Premier’s false claim that we are going to underspend our housing allocation from Province by R150 million.

In fact, we are projected to spend about 90% of our R450 million allocation for housing.

Then we had Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi’s false claim that we had underspent our Municipal Infrastructure Grant from Province by R46 million.

This claim was made in a letter that had my address on it, but that never arrived in my office. It was sent directly to the media, and I had to get a copy of the letter from a journalist.

In fact, the allegation in this letter was entirely without foundation, which is probably why the MEC did not send it to me. The truth is that the City of Cape Town’s MIG allocation will be fully expended this year.

The R46 million which Dyantyi mentioned is for bulk infrastructure work on the N2 Gateway project which has already been done under Thubelisha’s watch.

We are ready to pay for it, but we can’t because Thubelisha, for which Dyantyi is responsible as housing MEC, could not provide the City with contracts and invoices, as they are required to in law.

The third lie that we have had from Province about our budgets came from Transport MEC Marius Fransman.

He released a statement saying that we have only spent 60% of our Transport allocation from Province. A made a similar allegation in the Provincial Legislature last week.

Of the R158 million that the Provincial Department of Transport and Public Works has transferred to the City since 2002/2003, R124.5 million has already been spent, and the balance of R33.6 million has been committed to Non Motorized Transport projects along Klipfontein Corridor, which are currently under construction.

However, we should note that MEC Fransman’s department has failed on a number of occasions to transfer funds for transport projects, even where it has signed agreements with the City to do so.

In fact, the Province has not transferred any funding for public transport infrastructure since 2005/2006.

As a result, a number of projects have been delayed, including Claremont Public Transport Interchange, Mitchells Plain Interchange, Lenteguer Interchange and the Khayelitsha Rail Extension Public Transport interchange.

Fortunately, these projects are now on track through the allocation of Neighbourhood Grant Funding from National Treasury.

R20 million that Province was supposed to transfer to the City for infrastructure upgrades along the Klipfontein Corridor has also not materialised, in spite of a signed agreement that this funding would be transferred in 2007/2008.

And there has been no contribution from the Province for safety and security at public transport interchanges for the past 5 years, since 2002/2003.

Particularly worrying is the fact that Provincial contributions for 2010 transport projects are also still outstanding.

As a result there have been delays in delivering these projects.

I am concerned at this situation, which comes on the back of delays created by MEC Essop on the approval process for the reconfiguration of the Green Point Common ahead of 2010. While our stadium is on track, we need to have all of our other preparations in place on time.

I am deeply concerned at this pattern of dishonesty coming from the Provincial Government. And this is not a row with Province. We do not want to fight, we want to co-operate but we are being blocked at every turn and this dishonesty is part of the pattern.

Another example appeared last week, with the Premier claiming at a press conference that he had decided to extend his re-incarnated Erasmus Commission to probe Cllr Badih Chaaban because the Speaker of the City had failed to act against him. This is completely untrue.

As everyone here knows, council recommended to MEC Dyantyi five months ago that Chaaban be removed from this council following an investigation initiated by the Speaker and followed through by the disciplinary committee.

It looks like deliberate misinformation is going to be the stuff of the ANC’s election campaign ahead of 2009.

Even government bodies that are supposed to be apolitical, like Thubelisha Homes, have become involved in this, perhaps seeing themselves as part of the ANC’s election campaign. Thubelisha’s job is supposed to be building houses, but it has also been publishing ANC propaganda in glossy publications at taxpayers’ expense.

Their N2 Gateway News publication carries propagandistic headlines and articles that the taxpayers are funding. They make entirely false claims about the City’s role in the Delft tragedy, when they know very well that I have warned all along of the predictable outcome of the N2 Gateway policy approach, and when the problems arose, did my best to help address them.

It is ironic in the extreme that while Thubelisha spends hundreds of thousands of rands on glossy propaganda handouts, they cannot even produce the invoices the City needs to pay them for R46 million worth of bulk services.

Returning to the draft budget, I would like to look briefly at the support that our indigency policy proposes for Cape Town’s poor. And this is a crucial component of our budget.

In the first instance, our draft budget proposes an increase in the household income threshold for rebates for pensioners and the disabled to R6000. At present, those earning R5000 or less per month per household are eligible for rates rebates on our sliding rebates scale.

The salary threshold for a 100% rebate for senior citizens has also increased to R1860 per month per household, up from R1740 in 2007/8.

The threshold for those registered on our indigency policy has likewise increased to R1860 per household per month.

I am happy to say that 19 000 senior citizens and disabled persons now receive our rebates.

In addition, retirement villages and life-rights schemes will now pay the residential rate rather than the commercial rate that they paid in the past.

The monthly subsidy on water and sanitation will continue to be available to houses valued up R199 000.

And all existing free services will remain in place, including six thousand litres of water free each month, and a R30 per month contribution to water and sanitation applicable to all properties under a value of R88 000.

We will also continue to exempt the first R88 000 of all properties from property value rates.

I am mindful that in spite of these measures, many people in Cape Town will still feel the impact of the rates and tariff increases.

Let me reiterate: if we want to avoid disaster, and if we want our City to get ahead, we have to invest now.

I must also stress that this is a draft budget. The public will be able to comment on it, and all of the Council’s portfolio committees will assess it in detail over the weeks to come.

These inputs will be used to finalise the budget for the 2008/2009 financial year (starting 1 July 2008) in Council at the end of May.

I thank you.

 HZ

Speaker, I would like to welcome all Councillors back from recess and wish you all Unyaka Omtsha ozele ngamathamsanqa. Alle seenwense vir die nuwe jaar.

This has been a very productive festive season for Cape Town, with approximately 12% more visitors than last year.

I am also happy to say that there have been no reports of violent crimes against tourists.

The recess was, however, marked by other serious incidents that I would like this council to note.

Earlier this month, a member of this council, Councillor Edward Pietersen, passed away.

I extend my condolences to his family and his colleagues in the DA caucus.

Councillor Pietersen served this City and his community for nearly two years, and we will miss him in this council.

This month also saw the loss of Mr Faggie Carelse, the Chair of the Kaapse Klopse Association.

Mr Carelse devoted his life to preserving and promoting the minstrel tradition in Cape Town.

He made an extraordinary contribution to our cultural heritage and to supporting members of the youth in his community.

I hope that whoever takes over the reins of the KKA will be equally dedicated to the klopse, and do justice to Mr Carelse’s legacy.

Finally, I would like to ask this council to acknowledge the efforts of our City’s Fire Department over the recent months, especially the five fire fighters who were injured on duty over the weekend.

In particular, we should acknowledge Mr Gary Smeda and Mr Shane Woolseencroft, who had to undergo surgery for third degree burns.

They had to run through 40 metres of burning vegetation in order to escape being killed by the fire that broke out on Red Hill.

We have opened an arson investigation following this incident, motivated by the fact that for the past four weeks, every Friday, a fire has broken out in the area.

I wish Mr Smeda and Mr Woolseencroft a swift and full recovery, and I thank them on behalf of the City for putting their lives on the line for the safety of our citizens.

Turning to the year ahead, this multi-party government intends to renew its focus on infrastructure led economic growth.

Today I table the City of Cape Town’s Annual Report for the 2006/7 financial year, which shows that we are making progress in this direction.

Most of the key performance areas have already been published in our performance assessment.

To recap briefly, our capital expenditure, at R2 billion, and 77% of the budgeted amount, has been the highest so far in the Unicity.

The rate of housing delivery also increased by over 100% from previous years.

And our procurement processes for the delivery of key projects accelerated by 90%.

We also received an unqualified report from the Auditor General, and that we have again received the highest credit rating in the country, this time from international ratings company, Moody’s.

I am happy to say that we have received a congratulatory letter from the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Baleka Mbete, for being ranked the best city out of the country’s 283 municipalities. I will read this letter for council’s records:

‘On 25 October 2007, the National Assembly of South Africa agreed to a motion, noting that Cape Town was ranked the best city out of the country’s 283 municipalities.

The House further noted that the city won this award because of the way in which the municipality dealt with poverty, the level of access to basic services, its economic activity and infrastructure and because its citizens are well qualified.

The House recalled that in July [last] year Cape Town was ranked by USA’s Travel and Leisure magazine as the number one city in Africa and the Middle East and claimed tenth spot in the “best city in the world” category.

The National Assembly congratulates both the city administration and the residents of Cape Town on making it a world class city and a top tourist destination.’

I thank the Speaker for her letter, which is a source of great encouragement – but should not be a reason for complacence.

Looking at our mid-year performance assessment and Adjustments Budget on today’s agenda, it is clear that we are maintaining this positive trend, but that we still have a long way to go.

Our rate of capital expenditure reflects a massive increase in productivity.

This is as it must be. It was the main reason for our substantial rates increases in the past year’s budget. Our constitutional mandate is to plan for and deliver basic services — the platform for all other development in any society. Clean water, sewage systems, electricity reticulation, refuse removal, storm water systems, road access. If we are doing these things, we are delivering on our mandate and creating an essential platform for economic growth.

The lesson of Eskom and other national public enterprises tells a story of system failure. This is a failure to plan, raise the necessary revenue and invest in the required capital infrastructure to the point where the system can no longer cope and the consequences for the economy are dire. We must hold the relevant national ministers accountable, as well as the office bearers in Eskom, but we must learn the necessary lessons from their failure. It is up to us to prevent a similar breakdown in sewage and water purification systems, in road networks and in cleansing infrastructure such as landfills, otherwise we are sacrificing the future of all.

Much of this investment is invisible to individual households. Many take it for granted that toilets flush and that clean water comes out of taps, and that the stormwater runs away. Then they say, what is the government doing for me? The answer only becomes clear when there is a massive failure of governance, exemplified by Eskom. Then it is apparent just how much planning, investment and management is required simply to keep the lights on.

This basic infrastructure development, as the key requirement for economic growth and job creation, is our fundamental constitutional mandate. We have to raise the revenue needed and we have to make the necessary investments.

By the end of December we had already spent R940 million on capital projects, which is almost double the R520 million we had spent by December 2006, and more than the average annual expenditure for the previous 5 years.

Considering that last year we managed to spend a record R2 billion, this year we look set to break the City’s record again, by a substantial margin.

Our operational expenditure is also up by R1 billion from the same time last year.

There are also some other positive achievements reflected in our performance review that should be mentioned here.

By last year January, for example, our Expanded Public Works Programmes and other initiatives created 2200 direct job opportunities.

This year we have nearly tripled that figure, which now stands at 6253 job opportunities.

And we achieved this through real infrastructure projects that add value to Cape Town, not by creating patronage networks.

We have also further reduced the average time taken to finalise procurement processes from 8 weeks to 6 weeks.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of this government, the City’s top management team and all of our staff for their role in helping to make this increase in productivity possible.

It is a pity that SAMWU has decided to take strike action when our Annual Report and Performance Review indicate that the Realignment has resulted in better services to residents.

The Realignment has also tackled a number of issues that negatively affect staff, such as the lack of reporting lines and pay parity.

Over 80% of all staff members are now on standard conditions of service and pay scales.

And nearly 50% of all staff have benefited from pay parity.

In other words, nearly half of the City’s staff are now being paid more as a result of the Realignment.

We have also held a formal objection process which was open to all employees.

So far 75% of objections have been resolved, and 4000 employees who had been performing extra functions since the Unicity was formed have been upgraded. These individuals are now being recognised and compensated for the extra work that they have been doing.

To date the Organisational Realignment process has cost the City R151 million – which means R151 m more in the pockets of our employees.

Does SAMWU really want to discard the progress we have made?

I hope that they will be persuaded otherwise.

Having achieved the first phase of pay parity, we must now move with deliberate speed to fill all critical vacancies and to remove the bureaucratic delays in this crucial process. There is no reason not to spend operational funds because we cannot fill vacancies in time. We must streamline and accelerate this process, but we must also ensure that we put competent and skilled people in the right positions, otherwise the money ends up being wasted anyway.

While we are making good progress in improving the City’s performance in key areas, there are still some serious challenges that will require the full commitment of our staff to overcome.

Some of these challenges are reflected in our performance review and Adjustments Budget that council will consider today.

Of greatest concern, in terms of our IDP goal of stimulating economic growth through infrastructure investment, is the under-spending on capital budgets in some departments, and delays on key projects.

Delays in the delivery of housing opportunities, for instance, have resulted in funds being unspent and a drop in the rate at which housing opportunities are delivered.

Some of our housing projects in Khayelitsha continue to be hampered by political conflict in the community.

Sites in Somerset West, Pelican Park, Dido Valley, Driftsands and Hangberg are being held up by lengthy EIA processes. (It was very interesting to learn from Minister Erwin yesterday that the same processes are also in part responsible for delaying the establishment of new power generation capacity in South Africa).

And Provincial subsidy approval delays are affecting housing projects in Wallacedene and Bardale.

This year’s budget for the Bardale project, for example, had to be reduced by R8 million as a result.

In addition, many of our housing projects are not being driven as they should be, because we still have a shortage of project managers.

These posts are difficult to fill, since there is a national shortage of people with these skills.

As a result of the delays, our performance assessment shows that 2006 housing opportunities were delivered by the middle of this financial year, which falls short of the 2520 delivered at the same time last year.

However, as our Annual Report shows, we managed to create 5000 housing opportunities in the last two quarters of 2006/7 as projects got underway.

So we are likely to deliver about 7000 housing opportunities again this year.

We are also proposing in today’s adjustments budget to increase the funding for housing land acquisition by another R25 million so that we will be able to secure more land and begin EIA processes as soon as possible.

Apart from housing, our 2010 preparations on the Green Point Common are also suffering from delays.

While the stadium is proceeding well, the reconfiguration of the Common is being held back by MEC Essop’s approval process.

The biggest problem with delays on these large projects is that they have a knock-on effect on other infrastructure investment, delaying the construction of road, water, electricity and sewerage systems.

As a result of this domino effect, today’s Adjustment Budget shows some of our Municipal Infrastructure Grants from National Government have gone unspent, as have a number of allocations in the Transport, Roads and Stormwater department.

On the positive side, however, some major transport projects that will radically improve traffic flow are ready to commence in the City.

The first of these is the R150 million upgrade to Hospital Bend, which will add new lanes to this congested interchange.

In the months ahead we will also be seeing upgrades on Koeberg interchange, Table Bay Boulevard, Granger Bay Boulevard and sections of Muizenberg Road.

Although these projects are going to create traffic delays in the short term, they will help to relieve congestion in our city as a whole.

We cannot delay doing this any longer. Slow travel times on our transport corridors risk becoming a constraint on economic growth in Cape Town.

I trust that as our transport department moves ahead with these projects, the spending of its capital budgets will accelerate. It must.

Our performance assessment has revealed some key challenges, and has allowed us to take on these challenges in good time.

In some cases, funds that cannot be spent will be transferred in today’s adjustments budget to projects that are moving more rapidly.

Funds will also be transferred to new projects.

These include the first phase of the broadband network.

And we will be releasing R30 million for infrastructure on the Dreamworld film studio project, which has the potential to create approximately 7000 jobs.

However, there are some challenges to our IDP goals and targets which we cannot address through internal processes.

Among these are several intergovernmental issues.

I have already highlighted Provincial delays in relation to our housing projects and the Green Point Common.

However, we are also facing a threat to our revenue streams in the form of Minister Mufamadi’s new draft regulations on government property rates.

In essence Minister Mufamadi is proposing that rates on state owned property and public service infrastructure be limited to 25% of the rate applied to residential properties.

In the case of Cape Town this will mean a rates cut to the National and Provincial government and to parastatals of R252 million per year.

It would require a 7.9% increase in rates over CPIX to all other rate payers for the City to retain the same income.

Nationally this move could cost local government between R2 billion and R3 billion per year.

We will fight national government to the end on this issue.

It is unacceptable that the Ministry seeks to pass the responsibilities of national and provincial government departments on to ratepayers. Government properties use municipal services just like residential and commercial properties.

If they try to duck paying for these services, it will mean that the poor will suffer for government consumption.

It is also the second time that we have had to resist moves by national government to undermine local government revenue, following the REDs fiasco.

Another intergovernmental issue of concern is MEC Richard Dyantyi’s lack of action on this council’s recommendation that Cllr Badih Chaaban be removed from office for serious misconduct.

It has been months since this recommendation was submitted.

This non-action is symptomatic of the stalling that we experience from Province in so many areas that we can only conclude there is a deliberate attempt to undermine our capacity to deliver services.

It is becoming clear, for example, that MEC Dyantyi has no intention of granting housing accreditation to the City, which would cut out massive amounts of red tape around housing delivery.

We have taken the first steps in declaring an intergovernmental dispute, but he has so far not co-operated in this matter either. Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi requested a report from MEC Dyantyi on this early in January, but Dyantyi ignored his request.

Two weeks ago we wrote again to Minister Mufamadi asking him to address this matter, but have received no response.

If MEC Dyantyi continues to shirk his responsibility on the case of Cllr Chaaban we will consider taking him on review in the High Court.

We cannot have a situation where council is unable to implement disciplinary measures and curb corruption because of political expedience at other levels of government.

The intergovernmental issue that is of greatest concern to us, however, is the power crisis that has resulted from Eskom’s inadequate capacity.

This problem will be with us for the next four years, and is a major hurdle to our key objective of economic growth and job creation.

An unreliable power supply is already costing our economy billions of Rands.

And the cost in lost opportunities is still greater.

Eskom has warned that new industrial developments in South Africa should be put on hold.

This will hit poor people the hardest.

Jobs that could have been created by new industrial developments may not materialise.

And while big businesses can afford generators, people who rely on small businesses or home-based industries cannot, and are losing out as a result. If, for example, people cannot charge their cell-phones they simply cannot run their businesses.

There are some important lessons our country can learn from this experience.

I have made all the political points about accountability, about adequate planning and management and employment practices that need to be made. We dare not ignore these lessons, and those points will all be raised in this afternoon’s special Parliamentary debate — including the comparison between the billions spent on arms we do not need and often cannot use, and the failure to invest in basic infrastructure so essential to the country’s needs.

However, as frustrated as we may be with this situation, we have to commit ourselves to being part of the solution. When our country is in crisis we all have to pull together.

In the last few days I have had engagements with the President, the Ministers of Minerals and Energy, Public Enterprises, and the CEO of Eskom about the national electricity crisis that we are all experiencing.

Nationally 4000 megawatts needs to be saved each day for the next four weeks, and thereafter 3000 megawatts each day for the next four years.

For citizens of Cape Town this translates into the need for a 10% saving.

There are a number of propositions we need to consider in order to achieve this target and prevent further large scale power cuts.

In the short term these include

• switching off of cooling units in commercial and business air-conditioning systems for the next four weeks
• switching off of exterior decorative lights on commercial and council owned properties, such as the crystal palace effect at places like Century City.
• and households voluntarily switching off geysers between 17h00 and 22h00.

If every household simply focuses on saving 10% of its own excess consumption we will be a long way towards that goal.

In the medium term some of the propositions for reducing demand include:

• the extension of residential geyser control systems and incentives for those households
• targeting reduced energy consumption in households using more than 600 units of electricity per month through restrictions, penalties and pricing
• launching an awareness campaign to encourage energy conservation in households through energy efficient lighting and small scale wind or solar electricity units
• introducing subsidies and building regulations focused on solar water heaters
• introducing time of use tariffs for larger commercial customers, and eventually residential customers. This means being charged more for use at peak times.

These propositions will be considered by the task team headed by Mayco Member for Utility Services, Councillor Lionel Roelf, and will be fed into the Provincial Energy Risk Management Committee.

In addition, in order to address traffic congestion due to power cuts, we are going to assist with the roll out of further solar and wind powered traffic lights in Cape Town.

This project was piloted in Cape Town last year and was so successful that it is now being implemented nation wide, and is being bankrolled by the Central Energy Fund.

The City fully supports this initiative, and would like to encourage some of our Cape Town based corporations to bring financial backing to the programme.

I believe that this programme will help to bring some positive outcomes from the electricity crisis.

The fact is, the power crunch we are experiencing is a foretaste of the approaching global shortage in fossil fuels.

In the decades ahead, with growing demand and diminishing supply, fossil fuels are going to become an unaffordable means of producing electricity.

I hope that the solutions we are now introducing in Cape Town will leave our economy better prepared to face a global energy crisis when it arrives.

If this happens, then we will have succeeded in making our key objective of infrastructure led economic growth a truly sustainable programme.

I thank you.

HZ

Councillors, colleagues, members of the media and the public.

Welcome to the last Council meeting for 2007.

Before we start today’s session, I would like to wish councillors and City staff a blessed festive season.

I hope that you will have the chance to spend time with your families and loved ones over the recess period.

I also hope that you will return inspired and refreshed for another challenging new year.

For the City of Cape Town, 2007 has been a year to put our IDP objective of infrastructure-led economic growth into practice.

It has been a time in which we have worked for a cleaner, safer urban environment.

We have to keep pace with the unprecedented economic boom that can be seen all around us, and we have to encourage more of it – it translates into economic opportunities for people with skills.

If government succeeds in education and training, there will be more job opportunities for our citizens, which is the best way that any government can lead development.

For much of 2006 and 2007 we have been gearing the City up to meet this objective by introducing an organisational structure where none existed before.

The realignment has been a challenging process for everyone concerned.

We have provided all 21 000 City staff with placement letters, and by the end of February 2008 all individual objections will have been handled.

SAMWU is determined to hold ongoing strike action because it is unhappy with the realignment.

They are demanding that the City reverse the placement process and renegotiate a new settlement. In other words, they want us to go back to the situation prior to November 2006.
We cannot disrupt staff and delivery in this manner. We will therefore put contingency plans in place to ensure services continue during strike action.

It is unfortunate that SAMWU has adopted this stance.

It is also deeply unfortunate that the process of filling critical funded vacancies is proceeding so slowly in some departments.

I think specifically of utilities and transport, to name but two.

There is a long bureaucratic process involved in making appointments.

But there is one consideration above all that must count.

People appointed to do jobs must be able to do them.

Appointing the right people to the right positions is the most important management skill there is.

It is also a very rare skill and I am not sure we have mastered it. We must keep trying.

Overall I am encouraged this year by the progress we are making as a result of the administrative changes introduced.

The 2006/7 performance review showed massive increases in expenditure on capital projects.

Today council will consider the performance review for the first quarter of 2007/8.

This reveals that the positive trend is continuing.

For example, although the performance review indicates that only 8.5% or R340 million of our capital budget has been spent thus far, this is an improvement on the R232 million for the same period in the previous financial year, which ended with record expenditure for the Unicity of 77% or R2 bn.

Of course, we would like to see the figure reach 95% this year.

Currently, shortages of suitably skilled staff in some departments are the biggest obstacle, although we have already filled about 2000 vacancies in the past year.

Our performance review also shows under spending in the operational budget, and adjustments will need to be made to the allocation of funds.

This is not an area of primary concern, however, given that Cape Town normally overspends on opex.

The City is developing good fiscal discipline, and I would like to thank Mr Richardson and Cllr Neilson for all the work that they have done in this regard.

They have provided us with a sound basis from which to embark on our IDP goals.

This has further been confirmed by the Auditor General, who has just given us an unqualified audit report for the 2006/7 financial year.

There are also some other important developments in the first quarter’s performance review that should be noted here.

Last year we reduced the time taken to complete tender processes from 14 to 8 weeks. In the first quarter we have reduced this still further to 7 weeks.

This is the kind of administrative streamlining that our organisational realignment process was all about.

We are also on schedule with the building of the Green Point Stadium, although MEC Essop has still to finalise the Record of Decision for the Green Point Common Site Development Plan.

And we are meeting all of our targets for the provision of free basic services, water and sanitation and electricity to informal settlements.

Unfortunately we have seen some delays around the delivery of housing opportunities.

Several causes of this have been identified.

The first is the fact that we still have a shortage of project managers in the housing department. Although these posts are being filled, it still takes time for the administrative process to be completed.

The second is the fact that political interference on the ground is stalling projects. This is an unfortunate trend that we are seeing in some of the informal settlements of Cape Town.
Two weeks ago, for example, when the Daily Sun reported that 17 000 people in Enkanini were using only one toilet, I visited the settlement and saw a number of damaged or destroyed toilets. The ratio of families to toilets is 8:1. However, there were many vandalised toilets, deliberately destroyed. Even toilets made of concrete designed to resist vandalism had been broken with what must have been an industrial hammer.

I have to ask, why do people do this?

In some cases we are even struggling to get bidders for housing tenders in informal areas because conditions are so unfavourable – contractors increasingly will not work there.

The third factor slowing our implementation of housing is the bureaucratic delay of major projects.

The Scottsdene Show Village, for example, was delayed from November 2006 until 15 November 007 while the City waited for Province to provide permission to subdivide existing erven on correctly zoned land, following only one objection.

This in turn had the knock-on effect on the appointment of civil engineering consultants and contractors to make new connections and reinstate existing services.

All of this resulted in a total delay of 16 months on this project, which is an important City pilot for developing new methods for providing housing to lower income earners.

The fact is, bureaucratic processes can either be used to facilitate delivery, or used to block delivery for political purposes.

Compare the example of Scottsdene to the Provincial Government’s willingness to fast track approvals for the Green Point Stadium.

Compare, also, the speed at which the Provincial Government moved when it wanted to take over the City’s municipal public transport functions through a Public Transport Operating Entity, to their foot-dragging around granting the City of Cape Town housing accreditation.

We have started the process of an intergovernmental dispute to try and get housing accreditation for the City, which would remove a whole layer of red tape.

A further hindrance to the City’s housing delivery is legislation.

A major housing project in Pelican Park, which should yield a total of around 5500 housing units, is being held up by a combination of EIA legislation and bureaucratic delays.
Phase 1 of the project, comprising 3 500 houses, had already received EIA approval many years ago. However, this approval lapsed under the former City administration, and no houses were built.

Now we have had to re-apply for an EIA, and we were required to obtain approval for all 3 phases of the 420 ha site. This resulted in about 6 months of delays at Provincial level, before it was decided that we could de-link phase 1 so that we could get started on that. This has required the revision of the specialist reports, and a new public comment period of at least 30 days, followed by 105 days allowed in law for the Department of Environmental Affairs to consider the comment period and report and a further 10 days for the Department to draft and sign off the Environmental Authority.

The new EIA legislation may help to speed up approvals for small pieces of land, however, it is no less of a burden for large projects than the laws it replaced.

Unfortunately, matters look set to become even worse for municipal housing delivery and economic development with the Finance Minister’s proposed Draft Municipal Asset Transfer Regulations.

The regulations propose a new process for the transfer or disposal of capital assets.

In regard to high value capital assets (where the value is in excess of R1 million) it is estimated that the entire process will in future take between 6 and 9 months to complete.

In practical terms this implies:
(a) a report to Council suggesting asset is surplus and recommending commencement of a public participation process;
(b) decision by Council authorising participation process;
(c) advertisement by Municipal Manager calling for public comment on the proposal as well as comment from National and Provincial Treasury;
(d) minimum of 60 days public participation process;
(e) evaluate comments received in response to public advert and comments received from National and Provincial Treasury;
(f) report to full Council to make determination in terms of Section 14(2) of MFMA and obtain in principal decision to dispose of asset;
(g) competitive bidding process to determine purchaser in terms of Supply Chain Management Policy;
(h) evaluation and adjudication of bids;
(i) award of bid by adjudication committee or full Council;
(j) transfer of asset.

A similar process is proposed for leases for a period of more than 3 years and where the value of the capital asset exceeds R10 million.

It is ironic that government has elected to introduce the Government Immovable Asset Management Act which provides for a uniform framework (as opposed to regulations) for the management of immovable assets that are held or used by a National or Provincial Department
Local Government is defined in the Constitution as a separate sphere of government on par with the other two spheres of government.

Why should ever tighter regulations be made for local government, while a loose framework is applied to the other two spheres?

Is it because the ANC wants to get a firmer grip on municipalities where it has lost power to the opposition?

If this law is passed it will have a negative impact on our ability to sell land as part of our GAP housing programme. For example, our projects in partnership with the banks currently are designed to hand over land owned by council to low earning beneficiaries.

It will also undermine our attempts to stimulate economic growth by making land available for industrial developments.

This year council has concluded the sale of 9 parcels of land for this purpose in the economically depressed region of Atlantis after endless delays.

The new legislation will mean even further delays to important initiatives like this, slowing down job creation in Cape Town.

As frustrating as all of these issues are, I am glad that our regular performance review system has allowed us to identify these blockages and find ways to overcome them quickly.

I only hope that the Finance Minister will hear our concerns regarding further red tape.

Looking to the year ahead, there are a number of items that Council will consider today which are also of importance for our IDP goals.

The most substantial of these, as reflected in our Medium Term Expenditure Framework, is the R300 million first phase of our municipal broadband network.

Council will be asked to approve this project today, subject to the receipt of a R51 million capital contribution from the South African Research Network.

This infrastructure project will help encourage more businesses to invest in Cape Town by dropping the high cost of telecommunications. Currently this is one of the major constraints to investment identified by WESGRO.

Today council will also be asked to approve the City’s intervention in bringing electricity to the community of Happy Valley.

Over 400 families will benefit from this move.

Although council policy does not normally provide electrification to settlements where some residents may relocate within 3 years, there is already an established Eskom electricity grid adjacent to the Happy Valley site.

This will be the first of a number of informal settlements close to the grid that will have electricity installed.

We want to provide people with electricity wherever it can be done quickly and efficiently.

However, this will not supersede our informal settlement upgrade master plan, and we will use that plan to determine priorities.

These are some of the more important items relating to infrastructure investment on today’s council agenda.

I would, however, like to mention one further development that is very significant for the City’s service delivery.

The City announced yesterday that we are introducing a new water demand management system.

It consists of devices installed on residential properties, and a team in the City that manages the system through computer technology.

Following a pilot project where 4000 of these devices were installed, we are already saving the City 1 million litres of water a day, and R20 million per month.

In the year ahead we hope to install as many as 20 000 more. In the long term, we would like to provide every household in the city with one.

This system will help our customers to save water and to manage their monthly water bills, and it will help the City to manage debt.

It will also help residents to identify any leaks and have them fixed, instead of running up a huge water bill and then being unable to pay.

The water management device measures out a specific supply of water on a daily basis, at the pressure and flow rate to which households have become accustomed.

It allows residents to receive their free 6 kilolitre or 6000 litre portion of water per month, and it allows them to receive an additional amount according to what they commit to paying.

The device has been set to deliver an average of 350 litres per day or 10.62kl per month (which includes the free 6kl). At this consumption rate, which would provide each person in a 7 person household with 50 l per day, a properties monthly water and sewerage bill will normally be R30.

Those residents registered on our indigency database get a R30 indigent grant.

Should residents require more water they can commit to pay for that additional
water, and the water management device will then be set to a higher maximum flow.

It must be emphasised that this is not a pre-paid water meter. This device guarantees a basic daily water supply.

Pre-payment would not be constitutional as people should not have to pay to get their guaranteed supply of free water.

The water management device is set to switch on at a fixed time every morning and will only switch off once the household has used its set quota of water for the day.

If households use less than their quota in a day the amount not used will be carried over to the next day. For example, if only 250 litres are used in one day, the balance of 100 litres will be carried over to the next day giving a total of 450 litres for that day.

Any unused water quota in one month will not be carried over into the next month, however.

It is illegal for anyone to tamper with the device, and if they do it will automatically shut off. City officials will have to come out and reinstate the water supply and will issue spot fines.
If leaks are identified on a property, the City will come out and fix the leaks free of charge on a once-off basis.

So far the City has repaired leaks and installed water management devices in about 4000 houses.

We intend to install these devices in all newly built homes, and established residents can apply to have them installed.

We will also replace the current much hated ‘trickle system’ used for debt management with these devices.

As a further incentive for people registered on our indigency database to use water responsibly, the City will write off any arrears caused by water leaks if they remain within their quota and pay for any extra water use for a sustained period of 6 months. So far we have written off R55 million under this scheme.

This system is going to be a very important part of our City’s water infrastructure in the years ahead, since the Cape Town region has finite supply, but a rapidly growing demand.

Returning to today’s agenda, there are a number of items that are key to our IDP objective of a cleaner safer city.

Firstly, this council will be asked to decide on whether the metro police will go ahead with its programme to gain sponsorship from the private sector for additional metro police personnel.

This has been misinterpreted by some as a ‘privatisation of the metro police’.

In fact, it will enable us to put up to 77 more police on the beat in central business and shopping areas through funding from CIDs.

I would like to thank the ANC councillors in the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee who helped us to hone this into a practical project.

I hope that next year will see the first two pilot projects successfully implemented, and that they will pave the way for more.

This initiative will benefit from the introduction of our new internal metro police training academy, the policy for which comes before council today.

Previously the City has had to share the oversubscribed SAPS Training College in Philippi in order to train its police personnel.

The new training academy, guided by the policy before council today, will ensure we can improve the quality and output of our training, and therefore the quality of our policing services.

The performance of our fire and rescue personnel will also benefit from a draft Fitness and Well Being Policy that is before council today.

This policy sets out guidelines for health assessments of our fire fighters based on their heart rate, blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio and body fat percentage. It also includes criteria for fitness tests and other forms of performance monitoring.

It will help to ensure that the members of our fire and rescue services are physically prepared for their demanding jobs, for their own safety and the safety of the public.

Today’s council agenda also includes co-operative agreements with neighbouring municipalities for mutual assistance in cases of extreme fires, and a similar memorandum of understanding with Eskom for the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.

Unfortunately there are some issues that are still militating against our objective of a cleaner, safer city.

The first of these is the ongoing saga around the Greenmarket Square.

I would like to thank Councillor Grindrod and Mr Mansoor Mohamed for their work on reclaiming the property for the City’s development needs.

However, it is outrageous that our metro police officials have had to patrol the area to protect traders from the previous leaseholder, especially considering that he is a member of this council.

I think the editorial in yesterday’s Die Burger newspaper sums up the matter very well:

Dis tyd dat hierdie man wat Kaapstad se beeld soveel skade berokken eens en vir altyd in die bek geruk word. Neem hom hof toe vir die agterstallige huurgeld - en sommer ook vir groot bedrae onbetaalde dienstegeld.   Met sy optrede bring Chaaban nie net openbare politieke verteenwoordiging in die gedrang nie.  In die aanloop tot 2010 berokken hy ook die beeld van Kaapstad as internasionale bestemming groot skade. Geen stad kan bekostig om mense wie se optrede partykeer grens aan die van rampokkers, as amptelike politieke verteenwoordigers te hou nie.  Daar moet maniere wees om van die ongure karakter langs amptelike wee ontslae te raak. Kaapstad kan nie sulke leiers bekostig nie. 

Na afloop van ‘n tugproses het hierdie raad dit duidelik gestel dat Badih Chaaban nie ‘n openbare verteenwoordiger behoort te bly nie. And what have we seen? Yet again, we have a deliberate blockage at Provincial level to protect a person like Chaaban and continue to frustrate the workings of this council.

Hierdie Stad het ook ‘n verantwoordelikheid om rdsl Chaaban se skuld in te vorder. Gesien die feit dat daar jare lank geen skriftelike huurkontrak vir die Groentemarkplein was nie, is dit op hierdie stadium baie moeilik om regstappe te doen om die geld in te vorder.

Dit is ‘n onaanvaarbare stand van sake, en ek het gevra dat amptenare in die departement finansies die departement eiendomsbestuur moet help sodat ons ons nie weer in so ‘n situasie bevind nie.

[Following the outcome of a disciplinary process this council made its view clear that Badih Chaaban should not remain a public representative. However, MEC Richard Dyantyi is stalling the final decision on the matter.
This City also has a responsibility to recover debts from Cllr Chaaban. However, given the fact that for years there has been no written lease for Greenmarket Square, it is very difficult at this stage to litigate in order to recover the money.
This is an unacceptable state of affairs, and I have asked that officials in the Finance Department assist the Property Management Department so that we do not find ourselves in this kind of situation again.]

The second issue that is undermining our plans for a cleaner, safer city is the sudden termination of the waste removal contract in the Helderberg Region by Wasteman.
We will be taking legal action against that company for breach of contract – they only gave us 24 hours notice before pulling out.

In the meantime, we have taken steps to ensure that refuse is still collected, and extensive communications have gone out to residents and businesses in this regard.

I would like to apologise on behalf of the City of Cape Town to those affected, and I urge the Solid Waste Management team to expedite a new tender process for the contract.

Looking back over the year that has passed, we have had more successes than failures.

Next year we will face equal if not greater challenges, and we must work with determination in particular to cut red tape wherever possible.

We also need to develop more of the same level of intergovernmental co-operation that we saw on the Green Point Stadium.

I hope that we can put political differences aside for this purpose.

I thank you.

HZ

To everyone who wrote over the past two weeks, thank you very much. The floor-crossing period has been a difficult time, and I apologise for the delay in responding. I am, however, very happy to say that the City has been spared a premature change of government (this is the first time since 2000 that we have avoided a change of power through political manouvering).

I am hoping that this is going to herald a relatively stable period for government and service delivery. We are still on the long road to repairing huge backlogs in infrastructure in Cape Town that have crept up on government due to years of neglect. We are also still in a very delicate process of re-organising the City of Cape Town’s 21,000 strong staff administration. So it is very fortunate that this will not be disrupted.

Turning to your concerns, let me start by saying to Paul Hermann that the officials are still weighing up the City’s options on this matter, but I will let you know as soon as I have a final answer.

Na Debbie: ek sal vir my DA kollege in die Wes-Kaap Provinsiale Parlement vra om met die Minister van Arbeid te praat en antwoorde te kry.

To the Uthango Social Investments Team, thank you for your message, I fully agree that the City must partner with community based organisations and the private sector to achieve results - we cannot pretend to be able to be all things to all people, and so we need partners to help us further our goals. Please keep me updated on the progress that you are making with Councillor Grindrod and his Executive Director, Mansoor Mohamed.

Finally, to Mr Lipschitz, thank you for this important input, and thank you for your pro-active efforts to bring law-breakers to book. I have met with Councillor Vincent Bergh and have also requested information from the officials in the Milnerton Sub-Council. I was told that the specific cases that you handed to the Sub-Council are being dealt with through the courts. Unfortunately, as you know, this is a slow process. However, we cannot issue fines unless a court orders this to be done. If you have further specific cases, then we would greatly appreciate it if you send the information through, either to Cllr Bergh or to the Sub-Council offices. We do currently have an equivalent of an ‘admission of guilt’ fine for people who violate building regulations and certain other laws. However, according to our officials, this is usually not enough to stop these people - they just pay and carry on breaking the law. That is why Council currently works through the courts. Given that this is a legally complext issue, I would recommend that you speak to our Head of Legislation and Enforcement for Building Planning, Fiona Ogle. You can email her on Fiona.Ogle@capetown.gov.za or call her on 021 400-1803. If you are not happy with the information that she provides, then please let me know so that we can discuss the matter further.

HZ

Thank you to everyone who posted comments this week, and a very special thanks for the words of support ahead of the floor-crossing from Marco and Biobot.

I will try to answer each of the queries that you have directed to me as fully as possible.

Starting with SM - I share your concern about international perceptions of the South African government. That is one of the reasons why it is critical for us to strengthen the opposition. We are here to ensure that the ruling party feels more accountable to the public, and the more public support we receive, the more effective we can be. We are also here to provide the alternative leadership that people are looking for.

On the question of the Round Church building raised by Henk Rubridge, I will ask our property management department to look into the matter and provide me with feedback for you. As for the roads, we are doing our best to make up the backlog of maintenance that has developed in Cape Town over the past few years. However, we have limited staff budgets, which means we cannot move as fast as we would like to. We are creating jobs for the unemployed for these kinds of labour intensive tasks, however - for example through the expanded public works programme (which has so far created about 10 000 jobs). I will also raise your concern with our Transport Department.

To Birgitte I would like to say thank you for your concern for the welfare of our citizens. I look forward to seeing your plan, which you are welcome to send to mayor@capetown.gov.za

Generally the best way to channel money into poverty relief is either through one of the well established charity organisations, like the Salvation Army, or even the Niall Mellon Foundation, which builds houses for those people living in informal settlements.

Gerard, I would very much like to know who you spoke to in the City regarding the leaking hydrant and streetlight, so that I can find out why your call has not been responded to. I will ask the Executive Director for Utility Services, Mr BV Msengana to specifically sort this issue out. You can follow up with him on the following email address: bulumkovuyani.msengana@capetown.gov.za
Please let me know if this is not rectified shortly.

To Tas Fernandez - I have asked Mr Lee whether he has seen your correspondence yet, and he has not. This may be due to an email problem, so my suggestion is that you call him directly on his cell, which is: 083 650 6329.

To Smed, thank you for your support. To get details on how to join the DA, please contact my office in parliament on the following email address: leader@da.org.za

To Yohannan, at this stage we cannot stop the police from smoking altogether, as it is their legal right, as long as they do so within the constraints of the law. However, if any metro or traffic police officer breaks smoking laws we will be able to take action against him or her.

To Jackie Keeton and Jackie (I am not sure whether you are the same person?) thank you for extremely useful feedback - this is precisely the kind of information we need to help improve the City’s services. I will direct each query to the relevant department to ensure that we get answers and proposed solutions. As for the question of information around the new parking system - we have just awareded a tender to a new contractor and they are on probation. If they do a good job, they will stay on permanently. I will request our editorial team at CityNews to provide a detailed explanation of the parking attendent system in CityNews, which will then be distributed to every doorstep in the City.

Finally, to Reinet I would like to suggest that you contact Mr Mark Lowe, the Democratic Alliance’s National Parliament Member responsible for Home Affairs issues. He may be able to assist you with your situation. You can reach him on: grubs@saol.com

HZ

To everyone who has written in so far, I am very grateful for all your support and your constructive criticism. I have been overseas for the past ten days, for the first time since I have been in office as Mayor, so I apologise for the delay in responding to your messages. I have answered some comments specifically, although it is difficult to respond to everyone personally. However, I appreciate all of your messages, and I look forward to hearing more from Capeinfo bloggers.

Dear Yohannan, Elizabeth and Lynn

Thank you for being so frank about the problems with the railroads, and the Southern Line in particular. The responsibility for operating the trains lies with the Provincial Government, under MEC Marius Fransman, and ultimately under Premier Rasool.

However, railroads are a co-responsibility of the City of Cape Town. The best people for you to speak to about this problem in the City are our Executive Director for Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Mansoor Mohamed (084 421 4428 or email: mansoor.mohamed@capetown.gov.za) and our Director for Transport, Mr Eddie Chinnappen (084 222 0111 or email: eddie.chinnappen@capetown.gov.za). I will forward your messages to them for their attention and action, and I would appreciate it if you contact them directly.

We are in the process of a major overhaul of our transport system, in which R6.5 billion will be spent in the next three years on upgrading, among other things, stations, including the station deck, train stock (new carriages and so on) and transport interchanges. We are going to introduce a transport system that links up across the whole city and that runs on a smart card system, where all modes of transport, train, minibus taxi and bus, will all be paid for with one ticket (much like the system used in London). It would therefore be helpful if you discuss with Mr Mohamed and Mr Chinnappen your concerns regarding user-friendliness for tourists.

The other responses are with the comments posted below.

HZ

Hi, I am pleased to announce the launch of a new blog spot on CapeInfo that will allow you to interact directly with me on issues of governance in Cape Town, or on any other matters.

I look forward to hearing from you, whether you are from Cape Town or abroad, visiting or planning a visit, considering setting up a business here, or even if you have no plans to visit at all. I also welcome any innovative ideas or suggestions for how we can improve the Cape Town Local Government’s services to residents, visitors and investors.