Mr Speaker, I would like to call for a moment of silence for Councillor Richard O’Connell, for Ncumisa Ndesi, Thamara, Lisa and Qhama from Wallacedene who died in a suspected arson attack, and for Sadiqah Lippert who was killed by a stray bullet in Bokmakierie, along with many other innocent lives that were lost due to gang shootings.

Our thoughts and prayers are with these families. Thank you.

Good morning, goeiedag, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.

Mr Speaker, in our work of building a safe and caring city, we see first-hand how drugs and gang violence are ravaging our communities.

While addressing these scourges is primarily the responsibility of the South African Police Service, the City provides all the support it can and has taken a multi-pronged approach to targeting various facets of these epidemics.

Often we get attacked for not doing anything, despite our many operations, which show that we are doing all we can with our limited resources.

We remain committed to doing what we can in the fight against gangsterism and drugs.

But the most effective way for us to win the fight is to work together – with the police and our communities who are probably the best informants we can have on our side.

In three weeks we will be launching the fourth phase of our substance abuse campaign where we will reinforce our message of hope and tell communities where they can get help.  

In our first campaign, which we launched in 2012, we targeted young people to say: ‘Don’t Start, Be Smart’.

In 2014, we focused on the family members and the community around the user to say that we all have a drug problem and we can all do something about it.

In 2015, we targeted the supply and demand side, calling on our communities to report those who are selling drugs to the 24-hour helpline (0800 43 57 48) so that we could further clamp down on drug dealers.

In this next phase, we will use the success stories of others who found help to tell the public about the thousands of people who have found hope and help within our programmes.

We will disseminate information about where to get help with our 24-hour drug helpline and our Matrix sites.

Mr Speaker, since launching our campaign in early 2014, we had an 883% increase in the number of calls to our 24-hour helpline, reached 4,8 million people through traditional media channels, and an additional 2 million through social media.

On average, nearly 2 400 people are calling our drug helpline each year to seek help.

In the fourth phase of the substance abuse campaign, we are targeting the places where people have discovered drugs and we will go to those very same places to tell people about the Matrix 16-week programme which has helped thousands of people beat alcohol and drug habits.

Since 2008, the City has opened six Matrix sites in Tafelsig, Khayelitsha, Delft South, Parkwood, Milnerton and Manenberg.

In the 2014/15 financial year, 1 827 new clients accessed the service across the six sites, with an 81,5 % clean drug test rate for clients.

Mr Speaker, I have visited a few of these sites and I am always moved when I hear how people have come from rock bottom to overcoming an addition and turning their lives around.

To quote one client who was addicted to drugs for 25 years and who recently completed the outpatient programme, she said: ‘I ended up on the street and later went to a Matrix centre to get help. I am grateful to the staff who were part of my recovery. They are wonderful people, good listeners and were available whenever I needed to talk. I learnt so much about the disease (drugs) and how it destroys your mind, body and soul. At the Matrix centre I got all the tools to prevent me from relapsing.’

Alcohol and drug abuse not only affects the user, it destroys families and our communities. But those who have made the decision to treat their addiction have been able to turn their lives around.

Many of these clients used their stories to provide hope when they were employed as Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers to do community outreach by encouraging others to seek help at our Matrix sites while also following up on old clients.

To date, we have employed 60 of them in the EPWP and we will be working with them in the next campaign.

Apart from our treatment programmes, one of our preventative interventions reaches out to families before they are gripped by these social ills through our Strengthening Families Programme.

The Programme aims to rebuild the family unit by equipping parents to be there for their children and to be able to read the signs and for children to have a home where they don’t feel the need to escape into the traps on the streets.

These programmes are currently being rolled out in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Atlantis, Nyanga, Mitchells Plain, Langa, Elsies River, Lavender Hill and many others.

Mr Speaker, our Metro Police and Law Enforcement and the work of the Gang and Drug Unit and the Stabilisation Unit has made progress against this war, with thousands of units of drugs and ammunition and firearms confiscated.

Since July 2013, the City’s law enforcement agencies have made 5 293 drug-related crime arrests (excluding general arrests).

During this time, they have searched more than 5 700 premises and confiscated more than 87 800 units of drugs.

There are results, but I am appealing to councillors and residents to work with the City, and to be our eyes and ears.

You can come to us in confidence to share information on where else we can arrest criminals and get the drugs and weapons off our streets.

Mr Speaker, these are the results of a government that cares. This is the work we have started and the work that we will continue.

As a caring administration, we also value our senior citizens and we have various programmes to assist them.

Since 2014, the Social Development and Early Childhood Development Directorate has recruited people from our job seeker database and trained 400 EPWP workers as caregivers in this financial year.

The caregivers go to people’s homes, old-age homes and clinics to provide social support services such as psychological support, housekeeping and referrals to other social services for senior citizens who are no longer able to do things on their own.

During the first year, 2 580 senior citizens signed up for the programme. Last year that number doubled to 5 557.

Also under the banner of a caring city, our work of redress is reaching more residents as the ceiling retrofit project has now seen more than 3 600 ceilings insulated and weatherproofed to bring comfort to more residents this winter.

This is one of the wrongs of the past we are redressing where we are insulating and weatherproofing ceilings of State-subsidised houses that were built between 1994 and 2005 without insulated ceilings as this was not included in the subsidy at the time.

Living without insulated ceilings caused much discomfort for residents who are affected by the poor thermal performance and condensation which gives rise to damp conditions and inferior internal air quality.

So far ceilings have been retrofitted in Eureka Estate, Kalkfontein, Broadlands (Strand) and Lwandle.

Mr Speaker, we are also pleased to announce that we are preparing to start a R50 million Breaking New Ground (BNG) project in Masiphumelele.

The project will see the construction of 323 fully serviced sites on which subsidised units will be built at a later stage.

We are doing all we can to respond to the housing demand, but it is vital that residents and community leaders cooperate with us so that we can provide housing opportunities without any delays.

The City’s Imizamo Yethu Phase 3 housing project, worth approximately R200 million, is also ready to move ahead to the next phase.

We have had in-depth engagements with the community and we urge them to continue to work with us. We believe that the delivery of housing opportunities is the greatest way to drive redress and we are excited to get this project off the ground. It is foreseen that more than 900 housing units, comprising a mixture of subsidised houses and community residential unit flats, will be built for qualifying beneficiaries from the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement.

Mr Speaker, these are but some of the projects for residents of informal settlements in addition to the many others I outlined yesterday because our work is rolled out across the city, not just Khayelitsha.

Mr Speaker, while we are talking about Khayelitsha, the City spends approximately R60 million a year on rolling out our Janitorial Programme where we employ around 2 750 people to keep toilets clean.

Approximately 24% or R14,4 million, is spent on janitorial services in Khayelitsha where 660 people are employed to keep the toilets clean.

Mr Speaker, this is much more than the R8 million which the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) gets from their donors – most of which (R3 million) is spent on paying their salaries to peddle lies.

The money that the donors raise for the SJC is all to spread lies and I will give their donors our budget so they can see how much more is spent to serve Khayelitsha and many other informal settlements.

Mr Speaker, while there are many challenges before us, there is hope and there are many programmes which are making a positive impact.

The City’s successful Youth Career Expo which took place in eight districts connected more than 5 000 unemployed youth to tertiary institutions, prospective employers and private sector representatives where they received guidance on career options as well as how to access bursaries.

With these career expos, young people from all over the city found renewed hope and opportunities for their futures.

Also as part of our strategic objective to build an opportunity city, we value the role that small, local businesses play in our communities and in our economy.

We have adopted the standard operating procedure whereby the City’s Supply Chain Management Department may request quotations from community-based vendors for goods and services that amount to less than R30 000.

We want to afford the smaller companies and individuals an opportunity to provide services in their communities.

We have put together a step-by-step guide on how small businesses can access such opportunities with all the information to be compliant with the City’s Supply Chain Management Policy.

We are really excited about this investment into our communities and hope to alleviate some of the social ills that are linked to poverty and unemployment.

The standard operating procedure will also require contractors to make use of local labour through our EPWP database.

This development underscores our commitment to using all levers within government to create opportunities which will redress the wrongs of the past.

We are doing so with an unwavering focus on clean governance and sound financial management.

Unlike other metros like Johannesburg who spend millions to say they are the best, in Cape Town we know we are the best.

Ratings agency Moody’s has announced that the City of Cape Town has received a long- and short-term Global Scale Rating of Baa2 and Prime -2 respectively and a long- and short-term national scale rating of Aaa.za and Prime -1.za respectively.

The City now has the highest possible level of credit quality within the national context.

This means that the City will be less constrained by the country’s rating. This is especially advantageous for the City as it plans to approach the external bond market in the future.

Moody’s cited as a reason for its decision, and I quote, ‘the City's good budgetary performance, strong liquidity position and moderate debt levels. The financial position is supported by the administration's prudent financial policies and its relatively large and diversified economic base.’

Mr Speaker, as more people move to Cape Town in search of opportunity, we face many challenges, changes of our urban landscape and the various shocks and stresses that accompany this growth.

The percentage of the global population living in urban areas is likely to grow from 50% today to an estimated 70% in 2050 and cities around the world face huge deficits in preparedness for rapid growth and natural and man-made disasters.

We are committed to building resilience and finding innovative and proactive ways to address the challenges.

This commitment has led to the City of Cape Town yesterday being selected to join the100 Resilient Cities (100RC) Programme which seeks to find 100 cities across the globe that are ready to build resilience to social, economic and physical challenges faced by urban environments.

Cape Town was chosen out of 325 cities who applied, following a highly competitive application process.

As a member of 100RC, the City of Cape Town will gain access to tools, funding, technical expertise, and other resources to build resilience to the challenges of the 21st century.

This includes shocks such as extreme weather events as a result of climate change, fires, floods, civil unrest and stresses that weaken the fabric of the city such as unemployment, endemic crime and violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and energy shortages and outages.

As part of the 100RC Network, Cape Town will be eligible to receive grant funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer who will lead the city-wide resilience-building process and engage stakeholders from different government agencies, public and private sectors, and various communities to incorporate diverse perspectives and knowledge.

While we are affirming our place in many international networks, here at home, there are other ideas that are empowering residents who are in turn making us proud.

The City’s women-only road repair teams have won the Most Innovative Women Training Programme Award at the national Women in Construction Awards.

As part of its EPWP project, Transport for Cape Town has trained 24 women to do repair and maintenance work on roads, footways and stormwater infrastructure.

I am extremely proud of these women and we thank them for their great work in helping to keep our roads and stormwater systems in a good condition.

Mr Speaker, in closing, there are always attempts by various forces to paint Cape Town as the uncaring city when all of the interventions I have just mentioned and many others prove the complete opposite.

We are making progress. We aware fully aware of the challenges, but there are still those who fail to see context, who fail to see facts, and who fail to see when we deliver. But they remain quiet when our delivery is destroyed by criminals who steal and vandalise infrastructure which only hurts the people who need it most.

We all live in this beautiful city and we all have a part to play in taking care of our surroundings and making progress possible, together.

Thank you, baie dankie, shukran, enkosi.