The Cape Town City Council convened its final sitting for this term of office on Wednesday, 29 September. The City of Cape Town thanks residents for making progress possible, together. A Progress Report to Residents has been released on what the City is doing to deliver on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
The City of Cape Town IDP – as publicly consulted with residents – has five Strategic Focus Areas:
SFA 1 – Opportunity City: Create an environment where investment can grow and jobs can be created.
SFA 2 – Safe City: Create a safe living and business environment for residents
SFA 3 – Caring City: Build a metro that offers a sustainable environment, a sense of belonging, access to services, and help to those who need it.
SFA 4 – Inclusive City: Create a city where everyone has a stake in the future and enjoys a sense of belonging.
SFA 5 – Well-Run City: Underpinned by the principles of the 2016 King IV Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa.
Speaking at the final sitting of City Council, Executive Mayor Dan Plato said:
‘It has been a privilege and an honour to serve the residents of Cape Town as the Mayor of this wonderful, vibrant, diverse, and innovative city, and I could not have done it without the support of the Mayoral Committee, the City Manager, the Executive Directors, and every single city employee who works daily to provide the best services in the country to the residents of our city. Of course, none of what we do here would be of any purpose if it were not in service of the residents themselves, who are both our customers and our partners in taking Cape Town forward.
We have a way to go in overcoming the economic fallout of the global pandemic and national lockdown, but the City’s Economic Action Plan is firmly on track. We need to continue using every opportunity to facilitate job creation for the residents of this city, ensuring that while we have the lowest unemployment in the country, that we reduce unemployment even further. Any progress in government hinges on a capable state and a commitment to the rule of law. While we have much to celebrate, we know there will always be more to do and areas on which we can improve.
‘There is still work to be done, and the new mayor will be in the best position to take the City of Cape Town and our residents forward to even greater heights and by taking hands and working together, Cape Town can continue to create the enabling environment for our residents and business sector to flourish and prosper.’
Progress Report to Residents
Highlights for each of the City’s Strategic Focus Areas are listed in the Progress Report to Residents.
Opportunity City
- R20,5bn in investments secured, creating 21 500+ jobs and 7600+ training opportunities since 2018
- Lowest unemployment rate of SA’S metros
- Lowest rates for commercial properties in 2021/22 – 40% lower than Johannesburg and three times lower than eThekwini
- Serviced 4800 enquiries from SMME’s via the City’s Business Hub since launch in August 2019, with 99% of service requests actioned within 2 working days in 2020/21
- Enabling over 3800 permitted informal traders, with R50 million to upgrade trading spaces in the next 4 years
- Over 1 100 KM of fibre-optic cable installed across Cape Town, connecting 556 buildings
- Only metro protecting customers from Eskom’s load-shedding, with plans to do more
- Leading the charge to break Eskom’s monopoly and buy power on the open market, the only way to bring the electricity prices and reliable supply that households and businesses need
- Cape Town’s New Water Programme (NWP) aims to deliver around 300 million litres (Ml) per day by 2030
- Invested R50 billion into infrastructure over the last decade
- Over the next three years, over R10 billion of the City’s R29bn capital expenditure plan will be invested in water and sanitation infrastructure to ensure sustainable development
Safe City
- Law Enforcement has more than tripled the arrest rate in the past five years, following a 55% increase in the Safety and Security budget in 2021/22 compared to 2016, and the R1,7bn LEAP programme to put more boots on the ground
- Tripled the number of wards supported with Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) equipment since 2016, now supporting 197 accredited NHWs as part of a city-wide community safety network
- Metro Police made 7000 drug arrests, and confiscated 113 460 drug units, 277 firearms, and 4 346 ammunition rounds since 2016
- Traffic services made over 13 694 drunk driving arrests and impounded 22 114 taxis for various offences since 2016
- The City has doubled its Metro Police CCTV footprint since 2016 to enhance law enforcement in public spaces, with a record 15 390 incidents captured and 267 arrests in 2020/21
- SA’s leading City for firefighting services, with 32 firestations, over 1210 firefighting and operational staff, and a 350-strong fleet
- Cape Town received ‘role model city’ status from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNSDR)
Caring City
- 40% of households in Cape Town receive water and sanitation services free of charge (Gauteng avg. = 15,6% water, 1,6% sanitation)
- 27% of City-supplied households get free basic electricity (Gauteng avg. = 15.4%)
- 100% access to refuse removal once a week, including 99,79% of informal settlements benefitting from a door-to-door service, and skips in areas where this is not possible
- 98% of City-supplied informal settlements have access to electricity where it is possible to connect
- Access to adequate sanitation is up from 92,4% to 95,5%, with over 33 800 toilets installed in informal settlements since 2012/13, and 230 000 households receiving basic water and sanitation services in recognised settlements
- Cape Town became the first municipality in SA to provide a dedicated janitorial service for toilets in informal settlements
- R39 million in emergency food relief funding since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 200 000 residents benefitting daily from soup kitchens powered by City funds
- An estimated 207 000 people have benefitted from over 64 800 housing opportunities delivered by the City since 2012/13
- The City spent a solid 97% of its Urban Settlements Development Grant capital budget in 2020/21 despite Covid-19, with most of the remainder to be used in the new financial year
- 6500+ social housing units in the overall pipeline across 50 land parcels city-wide, including 2 000 social housing units in the central Cape Town area
- Over 19 000 title deeds to beneficiaries since 2012/13
Inclusive City
- The MyCiti bus service (Phase 1A) includes around 40 routes, 200 peak buses, and 70 000 passenger trips per day (pre-Covid-19), with the R7 billion MyCiti Phase 2A expected to service 200 000 passenger trips per day by 2027, benefitting 30 communities with affordable, safe, and reliable public transport between Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Claremont and Wynberg
- Only metro to run a public bus service for commuters with special needs, such as those in wheelchairs – Dial-a-Ride
- The City’s call centre answers over 2,4 million calls per year from residents in the regional language of their choice – English, Afrikaans, or isiXhosa.
- Between 2011 – 2021, City libraries were visited over 109 million times, with 103 million borrows of library material, and 10,5 million user sessions for SmartCape computers
- Since 2016, the City has assisted over 820 ECDs to register and become compliant, and invested over R60 million to build 5 new ECD centres in Delft, Netreg, Wolwerivier, Bosasa, and Heideveld.
- Cape Town goes above and beyond its municipal mandate with over R38,6 million in Grant-in-aid funding for NGO’s since 2016
- Cape Town is SA’s only metro with a social development budget aimed at people living on the street, with 1 600 shelter placements, 1 550 EPWP work placements, 575 reunifications with family, three Safe Spaces opened with 700 total capacity, and R13,5 million provided to support shelters from 2016 – 2021
- Over 8 200 patients have been screened at City Matrix® Substance Abuse Treatment sites since 2016, achieving over 80% negative drug test rate for clients who complete the programme
- All 80 fixed City clinics use an Online Clinic Appointment System (OCAS) with 13 000 appointments per week, and near 100% ‘ideal clinic’ status by national quality standards
Well-Run City
- Only metro to achieve 15 consecutive unqualified audits since 2006
- Voted the most trusted metro in the country for the seventh time in a row according to the 2020 Consulta Citizen Satisfaction Index
- Improved Service Request system, upping live communication with residents through SMS or Email status updates, including four status levels viewable live on the City’s ‘Report a Fault’ online portal
- R3,35 billion in rates relief for 2021/22 and R4bn debt write-off and payment incentive
- Lowest residential property rates of metros in South Africa – 25% lower than Johannesburg and over 2x lower than eThekwini.
- All suppliers are paid within 30 days
The Full Progress Report to Residents is available here: https://bit.ly/CCT-EMTReport2021