On Sunday, 19 August 2018, I am encouraged to see that Cape Town is recognised as Africa’s opportunity city but, in order for us to stay globally competitive, we need to take the city to the next level and create opportunities for all.
A key intervention is for the City of Cape Town to decisively address apartheid spatial planning that keeps the majority of our residents away from opportunities to jobs, good education and healthcare. We also need to improve safety in these communities and support business development.
The City must be a catalyst for better integration of communities by speeding up release of the 11 identified pieces of land in Woodstock and the city centre while developing the Foreshore Freeway project. More pieces of government-owned land must also be made available for the development of affordable housing. This will bring more Capetonians closer to opportunities, increasing our talent offering to international companies wanting to invest here.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recognised Cape Town as the top opportunity city in Africa and placed the city 6th among middle-income country cities – behind Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Shanghai and Mexico City.
Cape Town’s standing as an opportunity city was confirmed in the latest labour force survey results issued by Statistics SA. The report found that employment in the metro grew 4,8% year-on-year. Cape Town is also the metro with the lowest expanded unemployment rate at 22,6%. This figure is far below the national rate of 37,2%.
However, PwC Africa’s head of Cities and Urbanisation, Jon Williams, was correct to say that ‘Cape Town is at a crossroads between African problems and global ambitions. Its future success will depend on its ability to solve longstanding problems at home while keeping up with a rapidly changing world.’
These longstanding problems include access to opportunities for the majority of our residents. We have shown innovation in the tech fields and Cape Town is home to over 20 tech incubators. But, as the report shows, many of these opportunities are based close to the city centre or along the Atlantic seaboard.
If Cape Town wants to remain globally competitive, we must bring residents closer to opportunities and be a catalyst for job creation and investment as outlined by the City’s he Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP).
The City’s support of catalytic industries has been one of the key successes and this sector is also showing growth as we attract more investment to Cape Town and more residents find employment and receive training in key skills areas.
In the past three months, between April and June 2018, through the City’s support of Wesgro and our special purpose vehicles, we facilitated almost R1,4 billion worth of investment, created 1 236 jobs and trained 912 residents.
City has identified priority sectors with the potential to grow and develop the city’s economy. These sectors include information communication and technology (ICT); business process outsourcing (BPO); craft and design; clothing, textiles and fashion; and renewable energy, among others.
Through Wesgro the City facilitated seven investments that amount to R1,1 billion. The biggest investment was in the ICT sector from a UK-based company that saw 150 new jobs being created. The six other investments were in agriculture waste-to-energy; the oil and gas industry; the manufacturing and textiles industry; real estate; and the water provision sector. In addition, 35 new investment projects were fed into the pipeline.
Independent data and information collated and summarised in the PwC Cities of Opportunity report shows that Cape Town’s overall ‘opportunity score’ is higher relative to other cities with equivalent per capita GDP scores. The report benchmarks Cape Town against 31 of the world’s leading cities across 66 indicators of urban success. Globally Cape Town ranked 24th out of all the cities ranked.
A powerful signal to the public, business and investors is that Cape Town is ranked first amongst all of the middle income cities assessed, and even ahead of some high income cities like LA and Tokyo, for its transport and infrastructure.
Our investment in MyCiti is showing how we are connecting communities to economic opportunities and to each other. This is unlocking more opportunities for our residents. In 2011, MyCiti provided just 3 million passenger journeys in its first year and, within 5 years, we have seen 20 million passenger journeys.
But challenges still remain with our poor commuter rail system that falls within the powers of national government. Many of our challenges require the City to work with provincial and national government.
In addition to building a better transport network and enabling economic opportunities through attracting investment and training, we are also delivering on our promise to provide housing to those most in need.
At the end of the 2017/18 financial year in June 2018, the City, for the first time in its 18-year history as the metro government, exceeded its housing delivery target by 62%.
Despite many challenges, Cape Town is on track to grow our opportunity city. But, to remain globally competitive, we have to take the City to the next level and bring our residents closer to opportunities.