City of Cape Town Link

Budget Speech 2024

<p>Budget Speech 2024<br></p>

<div>Madame Speaker</div><div><br></div><div>Fellow Councillors</div><div><br></div><div>My colleagues in Team Cape Town</div><div><br></div><div>Honoured guests, especially Premier Alan Winde, who we are so honoured to have here today.</div><div><br></div><div>Members of the public</div><div><br></div><div>Goeiemôre, molweni, as-salamu alykum, shalom, good morning.</div><div><br></div><div>We meet this morning at almost the halfway mark of this term of office – we’ll reach that milestone about a month from now. </div><div><br></div><div>When we set out on this journey nearly two and half years ago, we affirmed that this government would serve Cape Town with a clear sense of higher purpose. </div><div><br></div><div>And that purpose we summed up in one sentence: to restore hope in South Africa by turning Cape Town into living proof that we do not have to accept that the story of decline and failure in our country the last decade must be our future too. No! </div><div><br></div><div>With deep love for our country, with boldness of vision and firmness of belief, we know that Cape Town can show that it is possible to roll back poverty, that we can overcome the long shadows of our past, and that our country can still realise the society dreamed of in the founding document of our democracy, the Constitution.</div><div><br></div><div>Nearly at the half way point, we can say with certainty that while South Africans and residents of other cities have felt growing despair, Capetonians can see and feel that this city is heading in the right direction.</div><div><br></div><div>All the projects and investments which we have spoken about these last two years, and budgeted for, and the new ones we’ll speak about this morning, are making a positive impact in the lived experience of all people in this city. </div><div><br></div><div>Our economy is robust, growing fast and creating jobs. </div><div><br></div><div>Factories are hiring more people, call centres are hiring, entrepreneurs are taking the plunge and starting businesses. </div><div><br></div><div>People are flocking here from around the country knowing that, in the words of the President, “at least there is one province and one city that works”. </div><div><br></div><div>In other words, we are making headway on our mission of building a City of Hope for All who live here. </div><div><br></div><div>And indeed it seems that it is not only here that hope is making a comeback. </div><div><br></div><div>Across the country, you can feel the thrill and excitement of hope rising. Hope for a better future, optimism that change for our country is coming. </div><div><br></div><div>How exciting! </div><div><br></div><div>As passionate and patriotic South Africans, we want our country to succeed, and we know it can. </div><div><br></div><div>We cheer on those fighting now for change, and we will work harder than ever to play whatever small but positive part we can play here to bring that change about. </div><div><br></div><div>We understand the crucial role of cities in providing the many touchpoints in people’s lives that can make them hopeful for the future.</div><div><br></div><div>For many people in Cape Town – and throughout South Africa – hope comes from living in more dignified conditions. Dignified housing, dignified sanitation services, dignified neighbourhoods, streets and public spaces.</div><div><br></div><div>For many, hope is inextricably linked to safety. Once you no longer live in fear of criminals, you are able to view the future in a hopeful light.</div><div><br></div><div>Hope also comes from laying out a path to a future filled with opportunity, which is why access to quality education is such a great determinant of hope. </div><div><br></div><div>And if you want to see what that hope looks like in bricks and mortar, I urge you to follow the progress of the Rapid School Build programme, which is driven with relentless determination by my colleague in the Western Cape Provincial Government, Minister David Maynier, and by Premier Alan Winde.</div><div><br></div><div>The thousands of children who get to sit in brand new classrooms and use brand new facilities at these state-of-the-art schools, in areas that desperately need more classroom space, suddenly have reason to believe in the value of their education. That is hope.</div><div><br></div><div>But without a doubt the biggest determinant of hope for the majority of South Africans is the prospect of finding work – of being able to provide for your family.</div><div><br></div><div>The dignity of employment has a bigger impact on how people view the future than anything else.</div><div><br></div><div>And, conversely, being stuck on the outside of the economy – without a job and with very little chance of finding one, as is the case for four out of every ten working age South Africans – is the biggest destroyer of hope.</div><div><br></div><div>Our beautiful, talented, miracle country will never reach its potential while we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, and the highest youth unemployment rate. </div><div><br></div><div>That is why creating jobs is the highest priority of this city government here in Cape Town. </div><div><br></div><div>Or more accurately, creating the ideal conditions under which jobs are created, because it is not the state that creates jobs, but private businesses growing in an environment of confidence in the future.</div><div><br></div><div>What a government can and must do is to prepare the preconditions for growth and investment: simplify administrative processes, improve and streamline government services, do away with pointless red tape, enter into partnerships with the private sector, and, most importantly, build the infrastructure that makes a city investable and a good bet for the future.</div><div><br></div><div>That is our mission here in Cape Town – to make this city the epicentre of commerce, of manufacturing, tech, and tourism, of agri-processing, the green economy, and ocean economy, of film, events and call centres, of hospitality, and of every kind of investment that requires hiring more people.</div><div><br></div><div>Our mission is to make Cape Town work by investing, on an unprecedented scale, in the city’s infrastructure. </div><div><br></div><div>Because when Cape Town works, Capetonians work. </div><div><br></div><div>The budget we’re tabling today sets out clearly how we intend to do this.</div><div><br></div><div>Today we table the third budget of this administration. </div><div><br></div><div>This is a budget that surpasses all our previous infrastructure spending records and will set us on a path towards the kind of job-creating economic growth that will truly make Cape Town the City of Hope.</div><div><br></div><div>That’s why we’ve called this 2024/25 Budget the “Building for Jobs” Budget. </div><div><br></div><div>It is our construction blueprint for the Cape Town of the future, where a robust and growing economy is able to lift thousands out of poverty and into work.</div><div><br></div><div>Overall, this is a R76,4bn budget. </div><div><br></div><div>But more importantly, this is a record R12,1bn Capital Expenditure budget – an amount that is up by 75% from the Capex portion of our first budget two years ago.</div><div><br></div><div>No other city in the country comes close to the scale of this infrastructure budget. </div><div><br></div><div>Over the three years of this Medium-Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework, we will spend just under R40bn – R39,7bn to be precise – on capital projects, as part of our R120bn infrastructure portfolio of planned projects over 10 years.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact, the recent Capital Expenditure Project Listing published by Nedbank found that just our one city, Cape Town, accounts for a staggering 60% of the R100bn in government infrastructure projects announced across the South African state last year.</div><div><br></div><div>We are building infrastructure at a rate not seen before, and this is what will deliver better and more dignified services to residents, especially on the Cape Flats and in townships, and this is what will set up our city as a place of dignity, opportunity, growth and jobs.</div><div><br></div><div>Just the other day, the national government seemed to take a leaf from our book here in Cape Town – and by our book, I mean our annual Infrastructure Report – when the President released his Infrastructure Construction Book setting out the 153 infrastructure projects that the national government and SOEs will procure in the coming financial year.</div><div><br></div><div>Reading the report, one table caught my eye. </div><div><br></div><div>It was a summary of the growth in construction sector jobs, by province, over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2023. The largest growth – a 43% jump – was right here in the Western Cape.</div><div><br></div><div>There are now 226 000 people working in the construction sector in the Western Cape, and most of them in Cape Town. </div><div><br></div><div>Already Cape Town has an unemployment rate that is a full 15 percentage points lower than the national average. </div><div><br></div><div>Since the start of this term of office in November 2021, Cape Town has added 363 000 new jobs, according to StatsSA.</div><div><br></div><div>Our investment in infrastructure over the next three years will create around 130 000 jobs in Cape Town, purely based on construction alone.</div><div><br></div><div>Cape Town is Jobs Town.</div><div><br></div><div>And our record infrastructure investment will ensure that continues for years to come. </div><div><br></div><div>So the big Capex number is important. But, equally important, is where we will be spending it.</div><div><br></div><div>A pro-poor budget</div><div><br></div><div>Considering the parts of Cape Town where the bulk of urbanisation will take place, and also the areas of our city where historically there was not sufficient investment to meet the demands of fast-growing communities, we have been on a mission since the start of this term to catch those areas up.</div><div><br></div><div>That is why a full 75% of the infrastructure spend in this budget will be in areas and on projects that directly benefit lower-income households.</div><div><br></div><div>We are acutely aware that our determination to build a City of Hope will only ring true if that hope is experienced by all Capetonians. </div><div><br></div><div>That awareness is reflected right across this budget, as we target Cape Town’s fastest-growing, and poorest areas, with infrastructure projects that will, over time, unstitch the unjust legacy of our country’s past.</div><div><br></div><div>So we are racing to upgrade bulk sewer lines and wastewater treatment works, to quadruple the amount of sewer pipes we replace, to expand our world-class MyCiti bus service to new routes, to put more Capetonians families into affordable housing and to deploy even more law enforcement officers to high crime areas.</div><div><br></div><div>Just last week we celebrated the handover of the upgraded Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works – one of our mega infrastructure projects that will help deliver dignified sanitation services to the people of Mfuleni, Khayelitsha, Delft and Blue Downs.</div><div><br></div><div>In the week before that, we saw great progress on the new MyCiti bus depots on Spine Road, which form part of the massive Metro-South East expansion of the service that will expand public transport services for residents from Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Philippi, Heideveld, Hanover Park, and more.</div><div><br></div><div>And let’s not forget the R715 million Cape Flats Bulk Sewer Upgrade – the largest sewer upgrade project of its kind in the whole of South Africa. </div><div><br></div><div>This is a project we are very proud of, and we are on track to complete the full pipeline upgrade in 2025.</div><div><br></div><div>A comprehensive social package</div><div><br></div><div>But this pro-poor budget isn’t only felt in big infrastructure projects. </div><div><br></div><div>It is also felt in the comprehensive social package that offers our most vulnerable and indigent residents care and dignity through financial relief.</div><div><br></div><div>This year the full total of our social package stands at R4,8bn – an increase of over R1bn since the first full budget of this administration in 2022/23. </div><div><br></div><div>If yours is one of the 192 500 properties in Cape Town valued at under R450 000, or if your household income is below R7 500, your monthly benefits will include 100% rebate for property rates and refuse removal, 15kl of free water, 10,5kl of free sanitation and up to 60 free units of electricity.</div><div><br></div><div>More pensioners and social grant recipients will benefit from rates rebates, from the raised upper qualifying limit since 2023/24 from R17 500 to R22 000 total monthly household income.</div><div><br></div><div>For 2024/25, we’ve further managed to limit the annual property rates increase to an inflation-related 5.7%, refuse removal also to 5.7% and water and sanitation to 6.8%.</div><div><br></div><div>While we’re working hard to lessen our city’s dependence on Eskom – and I’ll speak more on that in a moment – we are still unfortunately subjected to their steep increases for the time being. </div><div><br></div><div>We have managed, however, to reduce their increase from 12,72% to 11,78%. </div><div><br></div><div>Most importantly, today we include a significant price reduction for larger families or backyard dwellers who use more than 600 units on the Lifeline tariff.</div><div><br></div><div>I’m pleased to announce that our Lifeline customers using over 600 units will now pay 44% less – that’s R1,89 less per unit. This is to help larger households, or backyard dwellers, or those that use more electricity in winter. </div><div><br></div><div>You will remember that last year we raised the number of units that could be bought by Lifeline customers on the cheaper tariff from 350 to 600 units a month. </div><div><br></div><div>Thanks to these changes, Lifeline customers using 600 units in a month will pay R113.94 less compared to two years ago in 2022/23. </div><div><br></div><div>And now Lifeline customers can buy cheaper units above 600 units too, as long as they continue to qualify for the Lifeline tariff.</div><div><br></div><div>Cape Town has set South Africa’s most inclusive criteria for the Lifeline tariff. We have cast the net wide to include as many people in the tariff as possible. </div><div><br></div><div>If your property is valued below R500 000, you will qualify for Lifeline.</div><div><br></div><div>If you have a property worth more than R500 00 but a monthly income of below R7 500, you will qualify for Lifeline. </div><div><br></div><div>And if you’re a social grant recipient, or a pensioner with a monthly income below R22 000, you will qualify for Lifeline regardless of your property value, or what your sources of income are.</div><div><br></div><div>I urge you to take us up on the offer, because it really does make a big difference to a tight household budget. </div><div><br></div><div>For 600 units this can mean as much R400 – R800 less per month for Cape Town households, compared to other cities. This is based on a R500 000 property value or R7 500 monthly household income, or for pensioners earning a maximum of R22 000.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the best parts of my job is meeting so many wonderful people, and I love hearing from residents directly. </div><div><br></div><div>I was delighted to receive an email sent to me from Mrs Gaironesa Diedericks – a pensioner from Strandfontein – in which Mrs Diedericks thanked one of my office team members for assisting her in applying for the City’s discount for pensioners.</div><div><br></div><div>She wrote to say that her application was processed and approved in just three days, and that she then received a full discount on her municipal services.</div><div><br></div><div>She says this has put an extra R800 in her pocket every month, and this will go a long way towards putting food in the fridge and electricity in the meter, and that she finally has some financial breathing space for the first time since her husband passed away in 2022.</div><div><br></div><div>That is the help that we are giving to tens of thousands of our residents just like Mrs Diedericks. </div><div><br></div><div>I love hearing stories like that so much that I asked Mrs Diedericks if she would join us in the Council chamber this morning. It’s lovely to have you here, Mrs Diedericks, and I’m really happy that your monthly budget has been made a little bit easier.</div><div><br></div><div>En vandag kan ons nog bietjie help Mevrou, want soos jy nou gehoor het, is jy deel van die Lifeline tarief, en as jy meer as 350 krag units in ’n maand koop, het ons die prys afgebring en spaar jy nog R113 ’n maand. </div><div><br></div><div>We love you and appreciate you, and we will always do more to help pensioners like you. </div><div><br></div><div>Thank you, also, for your kind words for the member of my office team who assisted you with your application. I can confirm your assessment that Mr Sampson is professional and helpful, and I know he is just as pleased as I am that you are happy.</div><div><br></div><div>Energy security & ending load-shedding</div><div><br></div><div>Madame Speaker, </div><div><br></div><div>Our quest to end load-shedding over time remains a top priority of this administration, and we are still on track to meet our target of protecting our customers against the first 4 stages of load-shedding by 2026.</div><div><br></div><div>Recently we reached a number of big energy milestones, which fills me with confidence for the rest of this mission.</div><div><br></div><div>One of these milestones was the first window for applications by residential customers who want to sign up to get paid in cash for their excess rooftop solar power. Until now, that was only available to commercial customers, while residential households could get their municipal accounts credited.</div><div><br></div><div>But we’ve just taken the first batch of applications for cash pay-outs, and we will soon open the second window. </div><div><br></div><div>In this budget, we have set aside R480m this year towards our 4-stages-of-load-shedding protection plan, which includes R82,4m for our Power Heroes demand management programme, R377m for the Steenbras Hydro power plant, and R31m in capital upgrades to that plant as we continue optimising its load-shedding protection potential.</div><div><br></div><div>Over the three-year MTREF period, we will spend an estimated R722m on independent power purchases, including dispatchable energy to be deployed especially at peak times as part of the four-stages of protection plan.</div><div><br></div><div>We’re also investing heavily to make our service delivery load-shedding proof, with a budget of R680m over three years.</div><div><br></div><div>This includes making our municipal buildings more energy efficient, installing small-scale embedded generation at City facilities, developing our ground-mounted Solar PV plant at Atlantis, as well as various investments in generators, inverters, battery storage and UPS for hundreds of traffic signals.</div><div><br></div><div>We will further be spending R4bn over the MTREF on upgrading and maintaining our city’s electrical grid – a critical part of our plans to become and remain energy secure.</div><div><br></div><div>Keeping Capetonians safer</div><div><br></div><div>Colleagues, I now turn to the issue that is top of mind for every family in our country – safety. </div><div><br></div><div>The level of violent crime that South Africans are subjected to is not something that belongs in a modern democracy. </div><div><br></div><div>The increasing infiltration of organised crime into more and more ordinary life is of profound concern. </div><div><br></div><div>And while policing is still a function of the national government, this does not mean that we will stand by and watch as criminals run rampant.</div><div><br></div><div>We allocate R5,5bn to Safety and Security in this budget, and we intend to make every rand of that money work hard to keep Capetonians safer.</div><div><br></div><div>Over the next three years, we are investing R610m in safety technology, with an additional R200m already invested in this current financial year.</div><div><br></div><div>This includes R29,7m on CCTV cameras, R83,5m on SA’s biggest dash and body cam rollout, R94,5m on aerial surveillance, R10m on gunshot detection, R15m on drones, and R355 million on our overall EPIC digital coordination across safety services for smart policing.</div><div><br></div><div>Alongside these investments in safety technology, we continue to train new metro police officers to act as force multipliers for our operations, and to assist SAPS in the fight against crime. </div><div><br></div><div>In this year’s budget we have set aside R34m to train 1 000 new Metro Police candidates who will be critical force multipliers for our policing operations in the coming years.</div><div><br></div><div>We’ve also set aside R138m to procure new vehicles over the three-year period.</div><div><br></div><div>Every day, our Metro Police and law enforcement officers, along with the LEAP officers from our partnership programme with the Western Cape Provincial Government, make arrests and confiscate illegal firearms and drugs from gangsters and criminals.</div><div><br></div><div>And our traffic officers are enforcing the rules of the road, taking a zero tolerance approach to drinking and driving, and recklessness, and impounding vehicles of all sorts, including taxis, if they show no regard for the safety of other people. </div><div><br></div><div>In fact, thanks to our safety investments, City policing operations confiscated 447 illegal firearms in the last two years, including police guns which had fallen into the hands of criminals. </div><div><br></div><div>Illegal gun arrests were up 35% in 2023, with law enforcement also doubling drug arrests from around 4 000 to over 8 000 over the same period.</div><div><br></div><div>But far too often those same criminals end up right back on the street as cases collapse due to under-resourced policing. </div><div><br></div><div>The solution to this is to give our local law enforcement officers greater powers of investigation so that they can do the policework needed to build solid, winnable cases and help put criminals away. This can be done with the stroke of a pen by the national Minister of Justice. </div><div><br></div><div>We will not stop advocating for this devolution of policing powers, because we know that with those powers we could really crack down on crime in Cape Town.</div><div><br></div><div>But until then, we will do everything in our power through increased visible policing, and through the most sophisticated rollout of safety technology in the country, to keep Capetonians safer, and criminals off our streets.</div><div><br></div><div>Improving public transport</div><div><br></div><div>I spoke briefly earlier about our mega MyCiti expansion project to link residents of Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Hanover Park, Philippi, Gugs and more with safe, affordable and reliable public transport. </div><div><br></div><div>This expansion of the MyCiti Bus Service is the largest infrastructure project in the Western Cape and it’s going to be a gamechanger for the people living in those areas and along the route.</div><div><br></div><div>It is also one of the biggest line-items in our budget and accounts for R6,28bn of the three-year medium-term budget.</div><div><br></div><div>Also over the three-year period, we will be spending R668m on MyCiti buses, a further R221m on MyCiti bus stops, and R176m in upgrades to the 65 Public Transport Interchanges operated by the City.</div><div><br></div><div>Service delivery: doing the basics better</div><div><br></div><div>Colleagues, </div><div><br></div><div>Whether it’s the widest access to basic services in the country, whether it’s the size of the basket of free services we offer to poor residents, whether it’s our response time in dealing with service delivery issues, we have rightfully, over many years, built a reputation of a city government that works and gets things done. </div><div><br></div><div>There is clear blue water between the level of service delivery in Cape Town and any other major city in the country. </div><div><br></div><div>But it is a constant effort to keep up with the basics and maintain high standards, and there are always new pressures. </div><div><br></div><div>One of the most destructive pressures we face is cable theft. </div><div><br></div><div>This year we are budgeting a massive R764m for repairs to streetlights.</div><div><br></div><div>To keep doing the basics better, in this year’s budget alone, there is R826m set aside for road maintenance and pothole repairs. And over three years, we will further spend R735m on road upgrades and R444m on congestion relief projects.</div><div><br></div><div>We are also investing to restore community facilities that have been neglected for too long. </div><div><br></div><div>Including over three years: </div><div><br></div><div>o<span style="white-space:pre;"> </span>R138m for sports facilities </div><div>o<span style="white-space:pre;"> </span>R41m for swimming pools, with the aim of having all of our swimming pools open again for the first time in many, many years</div><div>o<span style="white-space:pre;"> </span>R76m for community and recreational facilities</div><div>o<span style="white-space:pre;"> </span>R149m for parks and public spaces</div><div>o<span style="white-space:pre;"> </span>R120m in library upgrades, equipment, and books</div><div><br></div><div>We have further set aside R223m over the three-year period to expand and operate our Safe Space shelters to help homeless Capetonians off the street by offering them dignified and caring alternative accommodation and a suite of care interventions.</div><div><br></div><div>We also know that there are still many in our city who live in extremely difficult circumstances. </div><div><br></div><div>The single moms who live in shacks, the families in backyards, those who must walk to fetch water or use the toilet, the fathers who can’t let their children play outside for fear of criminals. And the many who are searching for work.</div><div><br></div><div>We keep our minds constantly focused on those people. </div><div><br></div><div>We do not for a second feel comfortable in the relative success we have been able to achieve, and for them we roll up our sleeves and we get back to work. Because it is our higher purpose to make their lives better. </div><div><br></div><div>And in this budget, we are making substantial investments to improve their lives and to improve basic services for everyone.</div><div><br></div><div>We budget R1bn for services in informal settlements in 24/25 alone.</div><div><br></div><div>We will spend R419m this year in upgrades to City rental units, and R37,8m over the three-year budget cycle to turn tenants of council rental units into homeowners through our No Cost Transfer programme.</div><div><br></div><div>Our budget for informal settlement upgrades over the three-years is R3,7bn, and this includes R126m for new water, sanitation and waste installations, R36m for electrification, R1bn in upgrades to bulk services, in-situ upgrades, serviced sites, roads, super-blocking and emergency interventions, and R2,5bn for fully subsidised free housing.</div><div><br></div><div>Madame Speaker, </div><div><br></div><div>On the subject of basic services for the poor, I was pleased to read the Auditor General’s audit report for the City of Cape Town, which made the following observation at paragraph 163, and I quote, “It is important to note that the City has overachieved on the informal settlement indicators”, end quote, and then goes on to set out in real terms how we have exceeded every target for new taps, new toilets, and new electricity connections. </div><div><br></div><div>Furthermore, yesterday StatsSA released the non-financial census data for municipalities, and for the first time this data gives metro level breakdowns. </div><div><br></div><div>I was thrilled to see that the City of Cape Town has the highest proportion of residents that benefit from free basic electricity, more than 10 percentage points ahead of every other Metro, and the highest proportion of residents who receive free water and sanitation services, more than 25 percentage points ahead of the next best metro. </div><div><br></div><div>That is why the latest Economic Performance Indicators for Cape Town (or EPIC report, as it is known) shows Cape Town's Gini coefficient, which is the official measure of inequality, has dropped now to 0,59 and two basis points lower than SA as a whole. </div><div><br></div><div>We still have a long way to go, but this is heading in the right direction and is another sign of progress in our higher purpose of lifting people out of poverty.</div><div><br></div><div>When you listen to the debate in this chamber, you will often hear exactly the opposite. </div><div><br></div><div>But let us never forget that good government does not just lead to more jobs, it also delivers the finances needed to do much more for the poor. </div><div><br></div><div>Where there is good government, there is better dignity and better services for all. </div><div><br></div><div>Confirmed again by the AGSA, StatsSA, and the EPIC report. </div><div><br></div><div>Madame Speaker,</div><div><br></div><div>I have said before that there is only one source of public money – and that is the public. </div><div><br></div><div>This government is a partnership, and it is the public who truly enable us to deliver all of these services and make our city better for everyone who lives in it, especially the poor. </div><div><br></div><div>I want to take a moment to thank all of our law-abiding residents who pay their rates and services. </div><div><br></div><div>We are proud to deliver value for money, and cost-competitive tariffs. </div><div><br></div><div>I know this is a common point of attack of the budget, and so I want to demonstrate up front that Cape Town is also delivering on value for money for the public. </div><div><br></div><div>I asked residents in Joburg, Durban and Theewaterskloof to send me some of their real municipal bills so we can do a real comparison. </div><div><br></div><div>Just look at the difference in fixed charges. In Johannesburg, fixed charges are R1019 a month, before you have bought a single unit of electricity. </div><div><br></div><div>In Cape Town, our fixed charge is R219 – R800 a month cheaper, even though services are better here than there. </div><div><br></div><div>In Theewaterskloof, fixed charges are higher at R246, plus a capacity charge of R13,50. Most importantly for poorer consumers, the Lifeline tariff is higher at R3,29 compared to our Lifeline of R1,84. </div><div><br></div><div>And then if we look at the tariff increases in Durban in the budget they tabled last week, you will see the clear blue water in value for money that I was talking about. </div><div><br></div><div>Here in Cape Town you can feel assured that public money is spent for the benefit of the public, and that despite all our successes, we are still able to deliver these things at a cost lower than elsewhere in South Africa.</div><div><br></div><div>Colleagues, </div><div><br></div><div>All that we do here, and all we achieve, we do together. </div><div><br></div><div>Not just this team, but also working with our colleagues in the Western Cape government, led by Premier Alan Winde. </div><div><br></div><div>We would not be able to do what we do without a supportive and enabling provincial government, that shares our founding ideal and shares our optimism for the future. </div><div><br></div><div>He got this city and this province through Covid, and he has built an innovative, leading, caring provincial government. All of our LEAP successes in getting guns and criminals out of communities, those are as much the successes of this provincial government as they are ours. </div><div><br></div><div>All of the jobs created in this province – nearly 80% of all net new jobs created in South Africa over the last five years – that is what happens when you have a provincial government and a big metro working shoulder to shoulder to grow the economy. </div><div><br></div><div>And all of the work the provincial government is doing to enable all municipalities in this province to end loadshedding, are to his great credit and are thanks to his leadership. </div><div><br></div><div>Mr Premier, we will do our part, we will work hard. We’ll keep up the massive infrastructure investment, 75% of which directly benefits lower income households, and we will drive job-creating economic growth to lift people out of poverty and into jobs and dignity. You have our word.</div><div><br></div><div>And that is why we are so proud to table the Building for Jobs budget 2024/2025, and open it for public comment. </div><div><br></div><div>Thank you.<br></div><p><br></p>

2024-03-26T22:00:00Z

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Cape Town’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) 2017 - 2022

An overview of the City’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

Heritage information and resources

Our well-maintained heritage database and preserved heritage records are available to the public in a number of ways.

Walking heritage tours of the city

Tips and resources for you to walk and explore our beautiful city and its unique natural and cultural heritage.

Keep our public places clean

The City provides a number of public cleaning services that you can contact to help keep our public places clean.