| A Budget for Building Hope | It is about building the future we want for Cape Town. Building a City of Hope for All. | <p>Madam Speaker, <br><br></p><p>Fellow City of Cape Town Councilors, <br><br></p><p>Colleagues from the incredible Team Cape Town, <br><br></p><p>Honoured guests and members of the public, <br><br></p><p>Goeiemôre, molweni, as-salaamu alaikum, shalom, good morning, and Ramadan Mubarak.</p><p>A year ago, I tabled this administration's first budget. That budget laid the foundations for a City of Hope; the budget for the 2023/24 financial year is all about building from those foundations and seeing the structure emerge.</p><p>It is about building the future we want for Cape Town. Building a City of Hope for All.</p><p>This budget is the result of many months of hard work by some of the smartest people in Cape Town.</p><p>I cannot adequately express my gratitude to this remarkable team of officials, under the leadership of people like City Manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo, and the City's CFO, Kevin Jacoby. I thank them for their exemplary work.</p><p>The balancing act in a big city's budget between the needs of vulnerable residents, the scale and scope of future planning, and the economic pressures on ratepayers is one of the toughest challenges to solve.</p><p>This budget has succeeded in finding that balance. </p><p>Today we are considerably widening the safety net of care and relief for vulnerable Capetonians. </p><p>We are making possible the most ambitious future planning and investment ever undertaken by this City.</p><p>And we have done so with the utmost care and respect for the City's ratepayers.</p><p>It is both a progressive budget in its pro-poor focus, and a proactive budget that looks and plans far ahead. </p><p>That's why we call this the "Building Hope" budget – real hope for the people of Cape Town, and a beacon of hope for the rest of South Africa.</p><p>We want to show that with responsible fiscal management and a clear long-term vision, decline is not inevitable. It can be halted and it can be turned around.</p><p>Madam Speaker, hope is not a word we throw around lightly.</p><p>I know too well that many South Africans are in fact losing hope. I know that many people experience a profound sense of despair at the trajectory of our country and the seemingly insurmountable challenges they face every day.</p><p>Everyone feels the suffocating squeeze of the rising cost of living. Every trip to the supermarket reminds us that the price of a trolley of basic groceries is unrecognisable from a year ago. Staples like milk, eggs and cheese are up 12,3% from last year this time. Overall food inflation is nearer 14%.</p><p>Government's own official inflation figure of 7% feels like it doesn't tell the whole story. Every taxi fare, every bus fare, every tank of petrol reinforces this ominous feeling.</p><p>We all feel the terrible effects of load-shedding in our homes, in our businesses, in our public spaces, and there is very little that the national government or Eskom says that reassures us of a credible solution in the near future.</p><p>We all feel the constant threat of crime in our daily lives. No child should face the threats our children do; no woman should live in constant fear of violence.</p><p>And in many parts of the country, the collapse of basic services and the neglect of public infrastructure has made life very hard for millions of people.</p><p>All of us know and feel these things. But it is poor South Africans who bear the brunt of it.</p><p>Our job in government is to make life better for all the people of Cape Town. </p><p>We want to shield the poor from extreme poverty, we want to deliver better basic services for poor people, so that more of our fellow residents can live in dignity, and at the same time, we must cushion the financial blow for every family.</p><p>Speaker, this is a R69,9bn budget. </p><p>It enables us to make big investments across the metro – investments that will not only serve the needs of Capetonians today, but will also meet the requirements of a rapidly growing Cape Town tomorrow.</p><p>Within a generation, this will be a metro of ten million people as more and more people choose to move here in search of a better life.</p><p>We cannot let that prospect daunt us. We must plan for it now, and build now with that future in mind.</p><p>This year we are tabling a capital expenditure budget of a record R10,9bn.</p><p>This is an exciting, and a scary number. </p><p>That's more than was spent in the 2010 World Cup with all its mega projects, and it's 40% up from this year's budget. In the last eight years, the most we've ever spent on infrastructure is R6,5bn. </p><p>So this is big. </p><p>To put this into context, from 1 July, we plan to build R30m of infrastructure every single day of the year, including weekends. </p><p>And we're not stopping there. We will be ramping up our investment over the next three years. Next year capital expenditure will break new records at R14bn, and the year after that it will be R18bn.</p><p>Looking even further down the road, over the next ten years we will spend R120bn on infrastructure projects, the bulk of which will go towards upgrading and expanding water and sanitation infrastructure across the Metro. </p><p>We are investing to get ahead and stay ahead as we gear up for the Cape Town of the future. </p><p>We will not allow the decay and neglect that has gripped so many other towns and cities in South Africa to take hold in Cape Town.</p><p>At the same time, we are very mindful of the economic pressures felt by all our ratepayers, particularly in lower-income households.</p><p>And so I am pleased to announce what we are doing to protect lower and middle income households in our city from cost of living pressures. </p><p>We are proposing a total social support package of R4,3bn – up more than half a billion rand from this year's R3,75bn. No other city in South Africa does more for the poor than Cape Town.</p><p>Of that R4,3bn, R1,96bn will go towards rates rebates, and R2,37bn will be for free basic services for the poor.</p><p>Residents with a household monthly income below R7 500 will continue to benefit from one of the country's most far-reaching free basic service delivery programmes.</p><p>This includes 15kl of free water, 10,5kl of free sanitation, and 60 units of free electricity if they consume less than 250 units, and 25 units of free electricity if they use less than 450 units. </p><p>This year for the first time we have done away with the stepped rebate. Everyone under that income level now gets 100% rebate for property rates and refuse removal. </p><p>A massive 192 500 households, and all of the people living in them, will receive these free monthly benefits.</p><p>There is good news for lower income households' electricity costs too. We have made changes to the tariff structure for residents who qualify for the subsidised Lifeline electricity tariff. </p><p>Currently the threshold for the first block of the Lifeline tariff is 350 units.</p><p>We are now raising the threshold for the lower tariff to 600 units purchased in any one month.</p><p>Under the old threshold, customers consuming more than 350 units would pay R3,71. Because of the Lifeline shift we are making today, those customers will now pay R1,84. </p><p>This means they will be able to purchase an additional 250 units in any month at the lower tariff. </p><p>Lifeline customers do however still need to be mindful that the threshold was raised to 600 units to allow people to use more during winter months, and that an average monthly consumption limit of 450 units still applies over a 12-month period to remain in this tariff category. </p><p>We introduce these savings at a cost of R46m to the City this year, and despite Eskom's massive increase to municipalities.</p><p>But we've gone even further. </p><p>We have also raised the property value criteria for Lifeline customers to R500 000 – up from R400 000 – to compensate for residents' property value growth. </p><p>Council has already seen, and unanimously endorsed, the measures we have proposed to increase the rates-free portion of properties under R5m by 50%, from R300 000 to R450 000. </p><p>This means that if you live in a R1 000 000 home or apartment, you'll now only pay rates on R550 000 of that value, whereas before you would have been billed on R700 000.</p><p>Speaker, it is quite clear from what I have said that we are doing all we can to protect poor and middle-income families.</p><p>What hurts me, and I know it hurts every Capetonian, is the massive 18,49% Eskom tariff hike to municipalities. </p><p>This comes on the back of a 9,6% increase last year, and with another double-digit increase planned for next year.</p><p>We fought against Eskom's increase at every step of the way. Believe me, we did everything in our power. Because it cannot be the job of the City, or its residents, to keep on subsidising Eskom's increases.</p><p>I know how much people are struggling to make ends meet right now. I know how these spiraling electricity prices wreak havoc in a household budget, and how vulnerable small businesses are to increases of this scale.</p><p>I wish I could say to you that the City could absorb this increase without passing it on, but that is simply not possible.</p><p>If we had to substantially subsidise this Eskom hike, we would have to slash the budgets for basic services.</p><p>Given how truly unacceptable and unaffordable this Eskom increase is – forced onto municipalities across the country to implement – we are going to do all we can to cushion the blow somewhat.</p><p>The City has been able to reduce Eskom's 18,49% increase to 17,6% while still funding plans to end sole reliance on expensive Eskom power as soon as possible. The cost of this cushioning is being covered by the City in full.</p><p>I know that this is a small consolation, and it underscores how important it is to move away from Eskom dependency as fast as we possibly can.</p><p><strong>Ending load-shedding</strong></p><p>It is our mission to end load-shedding in the City of Cape Town.</p><p>Besides how it is crippling our national economy, is comes with crippling costs to local government.</p><p>Load-shedding has already cost the City R390m in the current financial year alone, including new generators, fuel, overtime, security, and losses due to theft, vandalism, and lower electricity sales.</p><p>In our effort to protect our city from this most glaring of state failures, this budget includes R2,3bn to end load-shedding over the next three years.</p><p>This amount includes R220m over this three year period on independent power purchases, as well as R288m for our Power Heroes programme to incentivise Capetonians to use less power at peak times to help prevent load-shedding stages.</p><p>Cape Town is also proud to be the first city in the country to offer households and businesses cash for their excess rooftop solar power. And I am pleased to announce that we are proposing to raise this feed-in tariff by 10,15%.</p><p>This makes solar even more attractive. We want as many residents and businesses as possible to help us end load-shedding over time, and there are no limits to how much power you can sell us. </p><p>We have also budgeted R1bn in the Medium Term Framework to operate and maintain the Steenbras pumped-storage hydro-electric plant. This is a critical part of the City's load-shedding resilience, and the fact that this 44 year-old station performs so well is testament to the power of regular and thorough maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>Our capital expenditure on solar PV installations will amount to R636m over the three years, and we have set aside R50m for battery storage, and R32m for our waste-to-energy programme at landfills.</p><p> </p><p>We are confident that Cape Town will be the first metro to break free from the suffocating hold that Eskom has placed on our country, and in doing so we will show that there is a bright electric light at the end of this Eskom tunnel.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Water & Sanitation</strong></p><p> </p><p>I now turn to water and sanitation. </p><p> </p><p>In the last year alone we have begun to see a real, steady decline in the number of sewer spills in communities thanks to the investments we've begun to make. </p><p> </p><p>Councilor Sawant wrote to me recently to describe how our investments have begun to show results in his ward in Kalkfontein. </p><p> </p><p>He writes: </p><p><em>"The extra funding allowed the depot to appoint a dedicated team to work in all our wards affected by sewerage overspills from Mondays to Fridays pro-actively and immediately attend to it. </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>At the same time we embarked on a community educational programme. This made the community aware of their responsibilities and how they could assist in keeping their own areas clean and healthy. </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Our task team initially met every Friday to assess as well as deal with the backlogs and more serious problems such as sewer collapses. </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Already there is a remarkable improvement which is acknowledged by our residents.</em></p><p><em>The money allocated for the pipe-replacement programme as well as the repairs to the pump stations in the new budget will improve this even further."</em></p><p> </p><p>That warms my heart so much. This is delivering dignity and building hope. </p><p> </p><p>We still have a long way to go, but the improvement is tangible, and our investment programme is just getting started. </p><p> </p><p>This year we budget R11m for more rapid response sewer spill teams, R16m for sewer pump station response teams, and R31m for extra cleaning of drains and flooding prevention. </p><p> </p><p>But we must be honest about where we stand. Too many of our pump stations are run until they fail, some of our wastewater works can't handle the load and spills are still far too prevalent.</p><p> </p><p>The only way to carry on the encouraging improvements we are seeing now is to ramp up investment even further, and for that investment to happen, it must be funded. </p><p> </p><p>Of all the ways to spend a city's revenue, investment in water and sanitation infrastructure is arguably the most crucial. </p><p> </p><p>And once you see the scale of the projects we have planned to make Cape Town future-proof, I hope you will understand our slightly above-inflation water and sanitation tariff.</p><p> </p><p>To give you an idea of this scale, consider that we set ourselves a target to double our sewer pipe replacement from 25km to 50km this year.</p><p> </p><p>I can say with certainty that we will comfortably exceed this target by the end of the financial year in June. </p><p> </p><p>And then, from 1 July, we double this target again, making our increase four-fold from 25km to 100km per year.</p><p> </p><p>This will be backed by a 100% increase in sewer pipe replacement budgets, from R150m this year to R300m per year from next year onwards.</p><p> </p><p>And that's just the city's sewer pipes. We have sharply ramped up our budgeted investment in every aspect of water and sanitation infrastructure over the next three years.</p><p> </p><p>Our water and sanitation capital budget for this current financial year is R2,3bn. By 2025 it will be R7,8bn. That means water and sanitation's budget in 2025 will be bigger than our entire capital budget this year. </p><p> </p><p>This scale of investment will allow us to do the kind of critical infrastructure work that no other city in the country is doing.</p><p> </p><p>Some of the highlights include a 330% increase in sewer pump station upgrades over the next three years, and an R8,6bn capital expenditure on wastewater treatment works upgrades.</p><p> </p><p>We have also set aside budget for the proactive jet cleaning of 200km of sewer pipes per year, as well as R1,4bn for bulk sewer upgrades to the Milnerton, Cape Flats, Gordon's Bay and Phillipi sewer mains.</p><p> </p><p>This section of the budget also covers the critical work we do to ensure that the city's many vleis, lagoons and rivers are rehabilitated where required, and then remain clean and healthy.</p><p> </p><p>In this budget, we have allocated R265m for the dredging of the Milnerton Lagoon and Zeekoevlei. </p><p> </p><p>There is also R17m in the budget this year for a piece of equipment that has me very excited: a brand new, state-of-the-art weed harvester for the Rietvlei, with two more planned for next year. </p><p> </p><p>Our city's waterways are incredibly important for the health of surrounding communities, for their value as recreation facilities and for the environmental preservation of these areas. And I know from the robust engagement we have with community groups and NGOs just how seriously Capetonians take this issue.</p><p> </p><p>We are really kept on our toes by active and engaged citizens, and we're very grateful for such passionate involvement from residents. I hope it is clear from these budget allocations just how serious we are too about protecting our waterways.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Making Cape Town Safer</strong></p><p> </p><p>Colleagues, our pledge to Capetonians to make the city safer is one of the most important priorities of this administration. Our country has among the most horrific violent crime stats in the world, and Cape Town is no exception.</p><p> </p><p>There is nothing you can say to a heartbroken parent who has to bury a child caught in a gang war. The violence is so senseless, and the grief is beyond words. </p><p> </p><p>But what we can do is commit more budget and more resources to the fight against crime.</p><p> </p><p>Simply blaming SAPS and the national government for their chronic under-resourcing of police stations across the metro won't stop the killings and rapes, it won't stop the drugs and it won't take guns off the streets.</p><p> </p><p>As we did on the provision of electricity, where we shouldered the responsibility to beat load-shedding ourselves after the state utility failed us, we also stepped into the void left by SAPS and took on more of the responsibilities of fighting crime in Cape Town.</p><p> </p><p>We still have a long way to go before we can honestly say we've turned the tide, but the signs are encouraging, and our efforts are making a noticeable difference. </p><p> </p><p>Our record R5,8bn safety budget will see an even greater commitment to crime-fighting, both by putting more boots on the ground and through new technology investment.</p><p> </p><p>I am pleased to announce budget for a further 85 new Metro Police officers this year alone.</p><p> </p><p>Colleagues, we have increased our budget for new officers so substantially, that the major bottleneck now is the speed at which we are able to train these officers. Over the next three years, we will be spending R166m on expanding our Metro Police training college.</p><p> </p><p>The safety technology portion of this budget, at R860m, includes R118,4m on new CCTV cameras, R118m on dash cams and body cams, R109m on aerial surveillance and R22m on drones.</p><p> </p><p>Other technology such as our license plate recognition cameras, radios, and our EPIC software system will account for R442m of this budget.</p><p> </p><p>All of these investments will play a critical role in taking back our communities from the gangsters and drug dealers, but if we are to truly win the war, we are going to have to equip our local law enforcement officers with the powers to do real investigative police work.</p><p> </p><p>Over a three-month period last year, from April to June, 198 cases serving before the court were withdrawn thanks to SAPS failures. And that's not hard to believe when you consider that 71% of our SAPS stations here in Cape Town are under-resourced.</p><p> </p><p>We don't want to just make arrests. We want to secure convictions. Out of 674 arrests for firearms made in just under two years by our Metro Police and Law Enforcement, there were only six convictions. That's less than 1%.</p><p> </p><p>This is why the City has hired 44 investigators for our Safety and Security Investigation Unit, along with analysts. And it is why we want our local law enforcement officers to be given full powers to investigate and build prosecution-ready case dockets.</p><p> </p><p>SAPS cannot do this on their own, and we now have the trained officers. All it takes is a stroke of the pen from the Justice Minister to devolve those policing powers to local government, and we will not stop advocating for this.</p><p> </p><p>Together with the substantial allocations made in this budget, that is how we will remove criminals from our streets for good.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Doing Basics Better</strong></p><p> </p><p>Madam Speaker, another of our pledges to Capetonians was to do the basics of local government even better, so that we can improve on the quality and reliability of our basic services to residents, and particularly in Cape Town's poorest areas.</p><p> </p><p>Already, Cape Town leads the way on every metric of service delivery in South Africa, but that's still not good enough for us. We have set our sights higher, and we have made budget allocations that will enable us to reach those goals.</p><p> </p><p>Over the next three years, we will spend R3,2bn on upgrades and services to informal settlements, which includes waste management, electrification, water and sanitation.</p><p> </p><p>Over the same three-year period we will spend R2,6bn on road resurfacing and road maintenance, with a further R544m going towards traffic congestion relief projects. </p><p> </p><p>This year alone we boost the road maintenance budget with an extra injection of R100m. </p><p> </p><p>Our Urban Waste Management team gets a R60m boost for better refuse collection to back yarders, and we have set aside a massive R659m for new refuse trucks and equipment to further improve our waste collection service.</p><p> </p><p>Something that is very close to my heart is the City's ongoing work to keep Cape Town clean and tidy, and particularly when residents become involved in clean-up projects.</p><p> </p><p>I have lost track of the number of community clean-ups I have taken part in across the Metro this past year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them.</p><p> </p><p>We want residents to feel proud of their city and we want them to have a real stake in keeping their neighbourhoods neat and litter-free. </p><p> </p><p>That is why we have just launched our brand new anti-litter mascot and are currently crowd-sourcing a name for him or her.</p><p> </p><p>Other basic service highlights in this budget include R38m for maintaining our regional parks so that every resident across the city can visit parks that are safe, beautiful and welcoming, R15m for better more reliable mowing, and R8m for a clean-up project focused on the Bellville CBD.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Housing, land release & transitional shelter</strong></p><p> </p><p>I mentioned earlier that Cape Town is a rapidly expanding city, as more and more people are attracted by the prospect of job opportunities, better education or healthcare options, or simply a better offering of basic services.</p><p> </p><p>One of the biggest challenges in such an expanding and densifying metropolitan area is the availability of affordable, dignified housing. </p><p> </p><p>We have allocated R37,8m for our "no-cost transfers" of 2,500 rental units per year over the next three years. Over this period we want 7 500 families to be homeowners for the first time of the homes they've lived in sometimes for decades, at no cost to them. </p><p> </p><p>We've also budgeted in full for our key priority programme of land release for thousands of new social housing units in well located parts of the city, for development by our Social Housing Institution partners and the private sector.</p><p> </p><p>Crucially, we budget today for the first time for the roll-out of our planning support officers in townships. Their jobs will be to help micro developers of small-scale rental units to build their units in a way that is safe and compliant. We're now developing off-the-shelf, pre-approved building plans for these new support staff to roll out. </p><p> </p><p>This is the future of affordable housing provision in South Africa, and it is being pioneered right here. </p><p> </p><p>Our commitment to dignified housing also covers transitional shelters to help Cape Town's vulnerable homeless people off the street and to ultimately reintegrate back into society.</p><p> </p><p>Over the next three years, we will spend R230m to operate and expand our Safe Space shelters, and we hope to win speedy public support so that we can soon open the doors to a brand new 300 bed Safe Space in Ebenezer Road, Green Point. </p><p> </p><p>In this year alone we provide another R95m for addressing homelessness – up 22% from the current R77m. </p><p> </p><p><strong>Public Transport</strong></p><p> </p><p>Colleagues, one of the best ways to unstitch the spatial legacy of our unjust past is by providing a quality, reliable public transport service that reaches far into areas that were once cut off from economic opportunities.</p><p> </p><p>Our world-class MyCiti bus service is contributing admirably to this aim. </p><p> </p><p>Today this service is made up of 40 routes, 230 peak weekday buses and 500 bus drivers, resulting in 55 000 passenger trips, on average, every weekday.</p><p> </p><p>This service already covers Atlantis, Melkbosstrand, Table View, Dunoon, Milnerton, Century City, Camps Bay, Hout Bay, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.</p><p> </p><p>Over the Medium Term Framework we have budgeted R5,4bn for the MyCiti south-east expansion which will link Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain with Claremont and Wynberg, and will certainly open even more economic opportunities for residents from those areas.</p><p> </p><p>But ultimately we need to get thousands of Capetonians back onto the Metrorail train service, as this is by far the most efficient, most affordable way to move people across the city.</p><p> </p><p>And so, while we continue to expand our world-class MyCiti bus service, we will also not relent in our advocacy to have passenger rail devolved from national government to local government.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Ease of Doing Business</strong></p><p> </p><p>Our goal throughout this budget, and throughout this administration's term of office, is to build a City of Hope for all the people of Cape Town.</p><p> </p><p>Part of that goal will be achieved through better access to basic services, or better protection against criminals, or more dignified housing. But the biggest difference in someone's life – the biggest indicator of hope – is for that person to find sustainable and dignified work.</p><p> </p><p>We want to give many hundreds of thousands more people the dignity and independence that comes with a job.</p><p> </p><p>It is our mission to make Cape Town as business and investor friendly as we possibly can so that we can buck the national trend and make this a place of growth and jobs.</p><p> </p><p>Already, we are doing substantially better in this regard than anywhere else in South Africa, but it is not good enough yet. And so we are doing all we can to let the world know that not only are we open for business, but also that this is the easiest place to do business on the entire continent.</p><p> </p><p>To this end, we have budgeted R76m to upgrade our online systems for municipal billing, finance and e-services, and a further R25m for vehicle licensing improvements.</p><p> </p><p>We are also investing R125m over this period in digital platforms to report service delivery issues, and we are allocating R260m for upgrades to informal trading infrastructure.</p><p> </p><p>We want the world to know that Cape Town is a great city to invest in, a great city to start a business in and a great city to make a life for yourself and raise a family in.</p><p> </p><p>It certainly doesn't hurt that we've had such an amazing run of high profile global events of late. The world tuned in to watch Cape Town's first ever E-Prix through the streets of Green Point, then they saw a packed Newlands host the women's T20 Cricket World Cup, and in between, we had the world's most high-tech racing yachts stopover in Cape Town as part of the round-the-world Ocean Race.</p><p> </p><p>What those millions of global viewers saw was a city that works: Clean, beautiful, efficient and friendly, and with service, hospitality and events industries that can handle whatever is thrown their way.</p><p> </p><p>I'm sure most of those people would also know that South Africa has many big challenges, but in Cape Town, they saw a city that is thriving despite those challenges.</p><p> </p><p>We know we have a long, long way to go. </p><p> </p><p>So long as people live in poverty, so long as many live in indignity, and so long as so many cannot find work, we know we still have a long way to go.</p><p> </p><p>But we want people to see that there is light despite our country's troubles. </p><p> </p><p>That where there are decent people, working hard, with a clear plan and a brave vision, we can fix our country. </p><p> </p><p>With the support for the poorest, and the services and the projects made possible by this budget, we are well on our way to reaching this goal. </p><p> </p><p>We are building hope.</p><p> </p><p>I hereby table the City of Cape Town's 2023/2024 Budget, and open it for public participation.</p><p> </p><p>Thank you.</p><p> </p><p><br></p> | 2023-03-28T22:00:00Z | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| Mayor Hill-Lewis tables Cape Town’s ‘Building Hope’ Budget for 2023/24 | Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis today tabled Cape Town’s ‘Building Hope’ Budget for 2023/24,with the draft now open for public participation until 5 May. | <p></p><span><p>Mayor Hill-Lewis said while last year's budget laid the foundation for Cape Town's vision of 'a City of hope for all', this second budget of his administration was about 'building hope', with major construction and infrastructure investments to position Cape Town for economic growth.</p><p> </p><p>'The balancing act in a big city's budget between the needs of vulnerable residents, the scale and scope of future planning, and the economic pressures on ratepayers is one of the toughest challenges to solve. </p><p> </p><p>Today we are considerably widening the safety net of care and relief for vulnerable Capetonians. And we are making possible the most ambitious future planning and investment ever undertaken by this City. We have done so with the utmost care and respect for the City's ratepayers.<br></p><p>'It is both a progressive budget in its pro-poor focus, and a proactive budget that looks and plans far ahead. That's why we call this the "Building Hope" budget – real hope for the people of Cape Town, and a beacon of hope for the rest of South Africa.' said Mayor Hill-Lewis in his address to City Council.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/council1mayor.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:932px;" /> </figure></span><span><p><strong>Expanding the safety net of rates rebates and indigent relief</strong></p><p>The City's total social support package is up more than half a billion rand in 2023/24, from R3,75bn to R4,3bn, including R1,96bn in rates rebates and R2,37bn for free basic services.</p><p> </p><p>The budget proposes a 50% rates relief increase for all residential properties of R5 million and under, with the first R450 000 of property value now rates-free. </p><p> </p><p>More pensioners and social grant recipients will also benefit from rates rebates, by raising the upper qualifying limit from R17 500 to R22 000 total monthly household income.</p><p> </p><p>Over 192 000 properties valued at R450 000 or below, or with household income below R7 500, will receive these monthly benefits:</p><p>· 100% rebate for property rates and refuse removal</p><p>· 15kl free water and 10,5kl free sanitation</p><p>· Up to 60 free units of electricity</p><p> </p><p><strong>Electricity prices and support for the vulnerable</strong></p><p> </p><p>Mayor Hill-Lewis said the City has been able to reduce Eskom's 18,49% increase to 17,6%, and offer significantly more protection for lower income customers on the subsidised Lifeline tariff, while still funding plans to end sole reliance on expensive Eskom power as soon as possible.</p><p> </p><p>'What hurts me, and I know it hurts every Capetonian, is the massive 18,49% Eskom tariff hike to municipalities. We fought against Eskom's increase at every step of the way because it cannot be the job of the City, or its residents, to keep on subsidising Eskom's increases. I know how much people are struggling to make ends meet right now, and that Eskom's spiraling electricity prices wreak havoc in household budgets. </p><p> </p><p>We have made changes to the tariff structure for residents who qualify for the subsidised Lifeline electricity tariff. Currently, customers consuming more than 350 units would pay R3,71. Because of the Lifeline shift we are making today, those customers will now pay R1,84. We have also raised the property value criteria for Lifeline customers to R500 000 – up from R400 000 – to compensate for residents' property value growth,' said the Mayor.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/council2mayor.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:984px;" /> </figure></span><span><p><strong>Massive infrastructure investment increases</strong></p><p> </p><p>The City's record R10,9bn infrastructure budget is 40% bigger than this year, with spending set to increase to a record smashing R18bn in the third year of the Medium Term Revenue Expenditure Framework (MTREF).</p><p> </p><p>Major sanitation network investments include a 100% increase in sewer pipe replacement budgets, 330% increase in sewer pump station upgrades over the next three years, and a R8,6 billion for wastewater treatment works upgrades.</p><p> </p><p>'In the last year alone we have begun to see a real, steady decline in the number of sewer spills in communities thanks to the investments we've begun to make' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.</p><p> </p><p>The Mayor said Cape Town's waterways are 'incredibly important for the health of surrounding communities, for their value as recreation facilities and for the environmental preservation of these areas', with R265 million budgeted for the dredging of the Milnerton Lagoon and Zeekoevlei to remove decades long build-up of pollution.</p><p> </p><p>The City is further investing R2,2bn in its New Water Plan for more water security in Cape Town, with major groundwater projects underway to tap into aquifers. </p><p> </p><p><strong>Ending load-shedding</strong></p><p> </p><p>The R2,3bn end load-shedding plan includes R220m to buy power on the open market, R288m for the <em>Power </em>Heroes voluntary energy savings incentive scheme, R1bn to operate Steenbras hydro-electric plant, R53m in 'cash for power' payments for solar power from residents and business, R640m on City-owned solar plants, and R50m in battery storage technology.</p><p> </p><p>Mayor Hill-Lewis said Cape Town was aiming to protect residents from the first four stages of Eskom's load-shedding within three years.</p><p> </p><p>'We are confident that Cape Town will be the first metro to break free from the suffocating hold that Eskom has placed on our country, and in doing so we will show that there is a bright electric light at the end of this Eskom tunnel,' said the Mayor.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Making Cape Town safer</strong></p><p> </p><p>The City is proposing its biggest ever Safety budget of R5,8bn for 2023/24, including funds for 85 new Metro Police officers this year alone, and R166 million to expand its Metro Police training college.</p><p> </p><p>The budget includes a major R860m investment in safety technology over three years to make Cape Town Safer. This includes CCTV, drones, aerial surveillance, licence-plate recognition, dashcams and bodycams for officers. </p><p> </p><p><strong>Doing the basics better</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Building Hope Budget 2023/24 makes major investments across the board to do the basics better on service delivery, including:</p><p>· R3,2bn in informal settlement upgrades and basic services</p><p>· a R100 million boost this year for extra road maintenance</p><p>· R659 million for new refuse removal trucks and equipment</p><p>· R230m over the next three years to operate and expand Safe Space transitional shelters to help more homeless people off the streets</p><p>To improve ease of doing business and customer experiences, the City is investing R75m to upgrade its online services offering, R25m for vehicle licensing improvements, and R125m on digital platforms to report service delivery issues.<br></p>
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<img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/council3mayor.jpg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:938px;" /> </figure></span><p><strong>More affordable housing</strong></p><p>Mayor Hill-Lewis further told Council that 'the future of affordable housing provision in South Africa is being pioneered in Cape Town'.</p><p>'One of the biggest challenges in such an expanding and densifying metropolitan area is the availability of affordable, dignified housing. We have allocated R37,8 million for our "no-cost transfers" of 2,500 rental units per year over the next three years. Over this period we want 7500 families to be homeowners for the first time of the homes they've lived in sometimes for decades, at no cost to them. </p><p> </p><p>We've also budgeted in full for our key priority programme of land release for thousands of new social housing units in well located parts of the city, for development by our Social Housing Institution partners and the private sector.</p><p> </p><p>Crucially, we budget today for the first time for the roll out of our planning support officers in townships. Their jobs will be to help micro developers of small scale rental units to build their units in a way that is safe and compliant. We're now developing off-the-shelf, pre-approved building plans for these new support staff to roll out,' said the Mayor.<br></p><p><strong>End</strong><br></p> | 2023-03-28T22:00:00Z | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
