​Mr Speaker, may we have a moment of silence for Ms Mildred Siebritz, 80 years old from Bonteheuwel, who passed away here on the second floor at the Civic Centre yesterday.

We also remember former ANC Councillor Elese Depouche who was shot at his home in Crossroads earlier this month and the road accident and fire victims.

Thank you.

Good morning, goeie dag, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.

Mr Speaker:

It’s been another busy and productive month in the City and I want to start by thanking all councillors and staff for their hard work.

We are now well into the year and we are about to start our new budget process so the hard work continues and we must keep taking our commitment and work to the next level.

Mr Speaker, just yesterday I had the pleasure of launching the City’s brand new Early Childhood Development Resource Library at the Crossroads library in Philippi.

This was one of the 12 resource libraries we are launching across the city as part of efforts to build a solid foundation for young children.

This is a firm demonstration of our efforts to build a caring city.

The ECD resource libraries are aimed at stimulating the children’s early development through learning with educational materials and enhancing a culture of reading at an early stage.

It was such a pleasure to be among the young children, reading to them and seeing the excitement for learning which we hope these libraries will continue to grow.

Mr Speaker, while we invest in our youngest citizens, we are also not forgetting the many people who have waited years to have land that was cruelly taken away from them by the apartheid regime returned to them.

Last week we celebrated with the 40 Rondebosch East claimants to mark the City finalising its role in this restitution claim.

The history of this land claim is truly heart-breaking like countless others where families and integrated neighbourhoods were broken up and people were scattered all over the Cape Flats.

People were moved out of their homes from this prime land in Rondebosch East and dumped on the Cape Flats.

The claimants now live in Southfield, Bonteheuwel, Gugulethu, Kuils River, Rylands and Grassy Park.

The Group Areas Act was one of the apartheid government’s greatest weapons used to cause division and create spatial divides, breaking up inclusive communities who lived together with a great sense of community for many years.

Claimants were uprooted from decent family homes and whole families were forced to move in with relatives and live in one room or sleep in the lounge area because they had nowhere to go.

These forced removals put families under immense stress and affected the quality of their family life and the children’s ability to do well in school and study properly.

This claimant group submitted their claim in 2001 and in 2008 the City sold the land to the Department of Land Affairs for restitution purposes.

The claimants have now been waiting for more than 10 years for the Department of Land Affairs to transfer the land officially to the claimant community so that they can commence their development process and resettle on their land.

I have written to the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to request an urgent meeting so that we can restore people’s dignity and rights to their land and finalise this process before more time passes.

It is in an indictment on all of us that restitution drags on for so many years and people have died while waiting to return to the land they were dispossessed of.

The City has made a commitment to redressing the imbalances of the past and finalising restitution cases as quickly as possible because it cannot be right that people have to wait so long for their land.

We will be celebrating one more restitution milestone in April with a claimant group for land in Heideveld to round off the many other claims we have finalised over the past seven years.

Mr Speaker, speaking of redress, I am also pleased to report that we are continuing our work of giving people ownership of properties they have been occupying for so many years. 

Two weeks ago I was joined by councillors in Retreat where we handed over more than 50 title deeds to residents in Retreat, St Montague Village, Seawinds, and Steenberg.

Many residents have been living in houses for decades, but could never call these places their own.

By giving people title deeds, we are not just handing over a piece of paper, we are overcoming the legacy of apartheid where people of colour were denied the right to own property.

When we were elected into government, we made a commitment to change that and undo the wrongs of the past through redress and reconciliation.

Many people have given up hope of ever owning their own home but we are ensuring that we step up the delivery of title deeds to residents.

In recent months, myself and the area-based Mayco members have been active across the city handing over title deeds in areas such as Khayelitsha, Athlone, Hanover Park, Gugulethu, Langa, Atlantis, Tafelsig, Dunoon, Hout Bay and Beacon Valley to name a few.

More than 3 000 title deeds have been handed to residents since the start of the 2018 financial year.
I want to urge our area-based Mayco members to ramp up the delivery of the title deeds so that we can finalise this roll-out as fast as possible.

I also want to encourage residents who are still waiting for title deeds to visit their nearest subcouncil or housing office to make enquiries and check on the status of their title deed.

We must continue making progress possible and do even better than the 11 000 title deeds that were issued to residents during the 2011 – 2016 term of office.

The handover of title deeds also aligns with our Organisational Development and Transformation Plan to be a more customer-centric administration where excellence in service delivery and security of tenure are key priorities.

Mr Speaker, we cannot ignore the fact that the issue of land has always been sensitive but even more so in recent weeks.

The City has experienced a high rate of land invasions in the past few weeks and, while we are working to address the housing backlog and need for housing, we cannot tolerate illegal land invasions.

Our staff members from the anti-land invasion and law enforcement agencies have been working around the clock to maintain law and order and to protect our most vulnerable residents.

Land invasions pose many risks as the invaded land is often uninhabitable posing fire, flood, safety and health risks.

It also jeopardises basic and emergency service delivery.

Over a six-day period this month, City staff dealt with 65 land invasions and associated protest incidents.

Early in March I engaged and continue to be open to engagements with residents who attempted to invade land in Gugulethu and Philippi.

In Gugulethu and Philippi we saw the destruction and torching of public property and we cannot tolerate or accept any justification for this kind of protest action.

We respect everyone’s right to protests but such violence and destruction cannot be condoned.

These unlawful actions cause great inconvenience and safety risks to all residents and I am especially concerned about the impact that such actions will have on residents who are trying to go about their lives going to work and school.

All residents have rights but we all need to respect and uphold the law and I want to again urge residents to follow proper housing and service delivery processes.

I want to thank all the ward councillors and subcouncil chairs who have assisted to bring about calm in the areas affected.

I have given our commitment to working together with the community and to resolving issues in a peaceful manner.

Mr Speaker, in closing, we are also making great progress with improving public transport in our city.

Within in the next seven weeks, the City will commence with the construction of a new minibus-taxi facility in Masiphumelele.

The City is investing approximately R13,8 million in this new facility for the minibus-taxi operators and, more importantly, for the nearly 3 300 commuters who will be departing from this interchange.

The new minibus-taxi facility will provide residents with a safe and dignified area for waiting and connecting with their fellow commuters.

The facility will be equipped with a rooftop solar photo-voltaic (PV) panel system for electricity generation.

We will sink a borehole for non-potable water uses at the facility, and we will also collect rainwater from the roof which will be stored in tanks.

The new minibus-taxi facility will accommodate about 60 minibus-taxis and will serve four destinations, including Fish Hoek, Kommetjie, Simon’s Town and Noordhoek.

And finally Mr Speaker, earlier this month the City extended its current contract with the N2 Express Joint Venture Vehicle Operating Company.

The new agreement signifies a milestone achievement where taxi associations will begin to take charge of the current operations of the four MyCiTi routes in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

The N2 Express Joint Venture (JV) Vehicle Operating Company was formed by Codeta in Khayelitsha, the Route 6 Taxi Association in Mitchells Plain, and the Golden Arrow Bus Service (GABS) prior to the roll-out of the four MyCiTi routes to the Metro South-east in July 2014.

The new agreement means that Codeta and the Route 6 Taxi Association will take over the operations of the four N2 Express routes as well as the management of the MyCiTi fleet serving commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

This is one of our greatest black economic empowerment projects and I am indeed proud of the work that the vehicle operating company has been doing on this route that services thousands of commuters.

Mr Speaker, as we head into the Easter Weekend period, I would like to wish all residents a blessed and safe holiday period.

This holy period is always marred by so many tragic and avoidable road accidents so I appeal to road users to please take care on the roads, don’t drink and drive, be vigilant and make sure you and all passengers are always safe.

Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi, shukran.

End