Managing this wonderful city is a very solemn responsibility indeed.
We have major developmental challenges.
And we have a vibrant and growing market economy.
Some see these as making up two worlds in one city, worlds that will never meet.
But there does not have to be a contradiction between economic growth and social development.
Our social commitments must be supported by economic growth so that we can in turn make the investments we need to in our people.
This creates a virtuous cycle.
Economic growth, led by investment, is one of the best ways that we can improve the lives of all the people of Cape Town, especially the poor.
The challenge for us as a City is to facilitate this as far as possible, and aim, together with Province, for a growth rate of 8% over the term of this government. And we must find ways to ensure that the market starts to work well for the poor.
We need to help create more jobs in this city, especially better quality jobs for low-skilled workers.
And I personally wish there was much more we could do in this City to improve skills.
We need to reduce poverty, and to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
We need to bring more of our people into the formal economy.
Apart from increasing job opportunities, there are other ways that a growing economy must be brought in to make sustainable service provision possible.
In the case of housing, for example, if we make land and services far more rapidly available, the private sector can provide the other products to the working poor who can qualify for long term loans.
We have already signed an agreement with several major banks that will help to make this happen.
The agreement ensures that thousands of families who could not previously have access to home loans will now have access to the necessary funds.
This does not mean that we will stop building subsidy houses.
On the contrary, it means we will create more options for all our people.
And this model is not limited to housing.
There are many other ways that the growing economy can help to create social upliftment in our city.
But our key contribution to making this happen is to ensure that our city runs effectively and efficiently.
We need to improve the city’s infrastructure so that it can better serve the people and provide for extended economic growth.
We need to spend more on transport, electricity, water, sewage, refuse disposal, fire-fighting and safety. And we need to spend efficiently.
Economic growth and infrastructure growth go hand in hand, each depending on and each encouraging the other.
And growth in both of these areas is one of the keys to social upliftment.
The three year appropriation of funds in the budget we are tabling today provides well for infrastructure improvements.
It provides stability for long term infrastructure projects.
Today we are tabling the draft budget presented to Council in March, and will also be recommending some additional areas of expenditure afterward.
We will therefore maintain continuity with the ANC’s budget in a number of respects. We believe in continuity, and in a smooth transition.
In this budget, social spending remains the same.
A total of R385 million has been allocated, which incorporates a number of different services, including free water, subsidised housing, and electricity.
At the same time around 100 000 properties in the city will be exempted from paying rates.
And our overall rates and tariff increases will remain below inflation. Here again, no changes were made to the proposal handed to Council in March.
The increases for Cape Town we recommend for adoption today are therefore as follows.
Rates will go up by 5%.
Refuse collection and sanitation will also both go up by 5%.
Electricity will increase by 4.9%.
And water will increase by 7%, of which 4% will be allocated to the Berg River Dam project to secure our future water supply.
One change that we would like to introduce is an increase in rebates under the Handicapped and Retired Persons Rebate Scheme to a maximum of R3000 per month.
Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Cllr Ian Neilson, will take you through some of the other important details in the budget as it will be tabled today.
For now, I would like to draw your attention to some of the additional expenditure related items we will be tabling for approval today.
We have recommended an extra R75 million capex for Transport, Roads and Stormwater infrastructure over the next financial year.
Among other things, this will help us to improve our roads and transport infrastructure, and also reduce the flooding risk in certain areas of the city. We need to upgrade drainage facilities, especially in the more vulnerable communities of Khayelitsha, Crossroads, and informal settlements across the city.
We will also recommend an additional R 9.5 million capex for the police services, and a further R6.5 million capex for the emergency services over the next year.
We will recommend an increase in funding to the city’s 105 wards by R100 000 each. This will come on top of the existing R300 000 they already receive for community projects, and will mean that every ward now has R200 000 available for capex and R200 000 for opex.
We will also be recommending allocations for the 2010 World Cup and related projects for each of the next three years.
These will take the form of a contingency provision of R125 million to be set aside for the year ahead, and R100 million for each of the two years that follow.
The total amount we have set aside for 2010 is still a relatively small amount of the projected R1.5 billion cost of the stadium.
However, this allocation has been made bearing in mind that the other two spheres of government have also undertaken to make substantial contributions, as they must.
As I have said before, I will not put the ratepayers in debt over decades to fund a stadium.
We look forward to working in close and constructive co-operation with province and national government on this massive undertaking.
We have also written to National Finance Minister Trevor Manuel requesting his assurance that we will not be left with any unfunded mandates arising from 2010. And we have told him we do not intend to break his law, the MFMA, by taking on any unfunded mandates.
If we can make 2010 work without incurring any massive debts, then it will be remembered as a great moment for this city.
There are also other important ways that we will make our budget work better for the people of Cape Town.
We must, as a matter of urgency, bring in more project management capacity, and driving projects decisively.
We must ensure that we have the skills base to ensure that we can launch the right projects, in the right way, and bring them to successful conclusion within time constraints.
We must encourage the City’s officials to initiate tender processes earlier in the financial year, especially given the fact that they now have three years of appropriated funds to work with.
And we are already at work on this.
We are, for example, already working with the Ikhwezi team to improve the city’s performance management system.
We are also finding ways of speeding up the city’s procurement processes.
All of these steps will help us to deliver faster and spend our budgets on time.
We must make sure that we can give the people of Cape Town all the opportunities they need to change their lives for the better.
If we want to call ourselves a government for the people, then we must make that our solemn responsibility.
I thank you