Madam Speaker of the Council; Speaker of the National Assembly;
Chairperson of SALGA and the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg; Chief Whip of Council;
Leader of Council Business; Members of the Mayoral Committee; Fellow Councillors;
Representatives of Chapter 9 Institutions; King Kgosi-Sekwati Mampuru III;
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners; Leaders of the Business Community and Civil Society; Distinguished Leadership of our Academic Centres of Excellence; City Manager and Senior Managers;
Members of the Media; Comrades and Friends;
The tide has turned and our journey has become irreversible!
At the height of our peoples’ final march to freedom, they sang a song that rallied all behind a call to go to Pretoria – they sang “Siyaya ePitoli” – “We are going to Pretoria”.
Theirs was not only an announcement of an eminent arrival in Pretoria – it was also a declaration of their path to power and their state of readiness to govern, and it had to start in Pretoria – the capital of apartheid South Africa.
Since time immemorial, the microcosm of statehood and the existence of a sovereign were determined by the state of its capital city – the conquest of any nation was incomplete without annexing its capital city.
To us, the people of Tshwane, ours is not merely a city but the capital city of democratic South Africa, reborn and remade out of the struggle.
We declare for all to know that this address, therefore, is not just about the “State of the City” but about the “State of South Africa’s Capital City” – a place where all South Africans want to be and many of them are.
Welcome to the State of the Capital Address!
Our assembly this morning occurs on the eve of a significant milestone for the people of our country – the 20th anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
As the official countdown gathers speed, during the next 24 days our people will be justly engaged in various festivities to mark that historic milestone.
Undoubtedly, the year 1994 will be chronicled in the annals of history as the highest moment in the struggle against the manifestations of colonialism and imperialism on the African continent.
In that year, our people witnessed the raising of the new national flag, which affirmed the pride and dignity of a bourgeoning democracy and the celebration of humanity.
Two years later, the adoption of our constitution by a democratically elected national assembly cemented the foundation for the construction of a democratic, non-racial, non- sexist, united and prosperous society based on justice, equality, the rule of law and inalienable human rights for all. We fortified the central pillars for social cohesion with the institution of a new national anthem from the fusion of “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” and “Die Stem”.
The adoption of the 1996 Constitution and subsequent legislation, including demarcation, resulted in the first real transformation of local government as a distinct, inter-related and interdependent sphere of government.
In 2000, the new Coat of Arms, which embraced the collective historical essence of the country, symbolising the shared values and unified sense of purpose as a people, was launched. In our incessant endeavour to fight poverty and create a better life for all, this period also witnessed the first local government elections.
A national identity emerged that cemented our respect for each other and our love for the country we all call home.
What followed in the subsequent years was a nation working to rebuild and reconstruct our country and to shape our collective future.
In 2004, as we held the country’s 3rd national elections, we also marked our first decade of freedom and democracy, drew a dispassionate balance sheet of our achievements and challenges, and mapped a new road on our forward march to further improve the conditions of our people through a greater emphasis on a caring local government for the people and by the people.
The lessons of the first decade also guided the necessary refinements of policies and structures that became central in helping our society to successfully navigate the tasks thrown up by the second decade of freedom and democracy.
In addition to putting people at the centre of development, the second decade also witnessed the second and third local government elections; the latter of which gave rise to the current administration.
The current spatial landscape of the city evolved from the fusion and incorporation of disparate entities, which in itself presented the City with the numerous opportunities and challenges that confront us today.
To the citizens of Tshwane, at whose directive we serve, as we take stock and rejoice in the triumphs and accomplishments of the past 20 years – we should never for a single moment lose sight of where we are going and what it will take to get there!
That, then, is the strategic organising logic that saturates and encircles our fundamental statement of intent on this occasion of the 2014 State of the Capital City Address.
We are also highly privileged to have among us today veterans of the struggle for national liberation as well as friends from the international community.
We are deeply enthused about the presence in the house of the Tata Sisulu, OR Tambo and Madiba families – the core of our leadership that were the guiding lanterns in leading our nation towards its democratic future.
These are the finest and most illustrious personages that played a critical role in assisting us to liquidate the apartheid system and denounce it as a crime against humanity.
As a country and as a people, we are endlessly indebted to the sacrifices made by these eminent leaders for the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy today.
It is in their honour that we pledge to spare neither strength nor courage to see to it that their selfless efforts and sacrifices become trans-historical monuments of justice, equality, humanism and developmentalism.
We celebrate 20 years of local government leadership
Madam Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that the local government system in South Africa is just over thirteen years old, I petition for your indulgence to briefly reflect on what the African capital city of excellence has been able to achieve in the 20 years of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
In 1994, the new democratic government, and by extension local government, inherited a political, social, economic and geographic system defined by immense racial imbalances in which the poor African majority had severely limited or no access to basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation, roads and so on.
The findings of the twenty-year review undertaken by the City of Tshwane established among other realities that the white-controlled city councils of Centurion and Pretoria experienced servicing and delivery standards greater than most parts of the city and enjoyed the huge rates base for their exclusive benefit.
The principal task of the new democratic government was therefore to address extensive backlogs, reduce inequalities, target specific areas for investment in new infrastructure and place the city, and subsequently the country, on a higher growth trajectory.
In the context of the metropolitan City of Tshwane, the spatial repercussions of such effects are most acute, especially given its vast territory as the third-largest metropolitan area in the world, if not the single largest jurisdictional area.
For these reasons, the delivery of infrastructure and its accompanying governance structures within the City of Tshwane has undergone an incredible transformation over the past 20 years.
The strategic purpose of such transformation was to move away from an infrastructure provision regime intended for the white minority of the population to one that caters for the interests of the entire population irrespective of colour, gender or geographical location.
Madam Speaker, it is increasingly being argued that in countries across the globe, national economic competitiveness within the international marketplace is highly dependent on urban regions, which are the key centres of productivity and innovation.
In the global economy of the 21st century, it is increasingly being argued that cities function primarily to generate regional and national prosperity.
On strengthening our economy
Madam Speaker, managing the post-apartheid economy was complex, partly because the excesses and policy errors of the latter years of apartheid left the country close to bankruptcy.
There were no foreign exchange reserves, public debt had rocketed, and inflation was in the upper teens, with plummeting investment levels.
While there were many arguments on the appropriate economic trajectory to be adopted, the fact was that the decline had to stop.
As a result of various policy interventions, the country successfully stabilised the economy, improved the confidence of domestic and foreign investors, rebuilt its reputation among lenders, brought down inflation, and restored the health of ailing public finances. This was made possible by the inherent sophistication of South Africa’s banking system.
Following these policy interventions, South Africa experienced a long economic boom, which was rapidly brought to a halt by the 2008 global economic recession, of which one of the effects was the loss of one million jobs, or approximately 9% of the workforce.
Between 1997 and 2012, the City of Tshwane’s economy on average remained the fastest growing in the country, which enabled Tshwane to be better cushioned from some of the period’s dynamic adversities.
Tshwane is indeed the anchor of South Africa’s knowledge economy and is exceptionally well positioned to serve the continent in this regard.
Knowledge economies are increasingly differentiating the fortune of countries across the globe. Failure to embrace this trend, especially in the age of the information revolution, will only result in the persistence of poverty where the poorest in our society are increasingly marginalised.
Tshwane has the second-highest average household income in Gauteng – it is indeed above the South African average. Average household income in Tshwane has grown by almost 93% since 2001.
This fact must, however, be interpreted with caution because it is not representative of the fortunes of the majority of Tshwane residents.
Even though Gauteng possesses the smallest land area, constituting a mere 1,4% of the country, its economy is more than twice that of KwaZulu-Natal or the Western Cape– this scenario is actually representative of a global phenomenon.
Overall, Gauteng generated 35,6%, approximately equivalent to R675 billion, of gross domestic production (GDP) last year, consolidating its position as the single largest contributor to the economy of the country.
Gauteng also contributed approximately 7,7% to the gross domestic product of Africa in 2012. This serves as a good indication of the province’s importance as one of the economic hubs of the continent, and it presents significant opportunities for cities in the province.
Tshwane contributes an estimated 27% of GDP to Gauteng and an estimated 9,4% to the national economy. The City’s economy is highly service-based, with community services and government as well as financial services and manufacturing being the dominating sectors.
In other words, significant opportunities exist for high income and employment multipliers in an endeavour to diversify Tshwane’s economy in an exceptionally focused manner. These include knowledge, research, development and innovation-intensive service industries, such as biotechnology, defence expertise and ICT enterprises as well as agro-processing, the green economy and tourism.
Madam Speaker, the majority of these do not represent distinct sectors as such. However, there are significant resultant spin-offs that are increasingly plausible and are based on Tshwane’s research, development and innovation capability. While we produce the majority of research and development output in the country, this has not translated into a monetary sector.
In the City of Tshwane, we will intensify our focus on advancing this area to contribute to tangible economic transformation, albeit in the medium to long-term. Inclusive sustainable growth is not a static process nor is it an overnight achievement.
Investing in our youth, job creation and skills development
We are contributing to generating the fruits to be enjoyed by coming generations: the youth of Tshwane, whose numbers have grown exponentially in recent times.
Madam Speaker, this is a significant opportunity for the City.
Today, Tshwane has one of the lowest unemployment rates in South Africa, with the number of employed persons increasing by 52% during this decade, from just over 700 000 to almost 1,1 million.
The proportion of persons who are not economically active remains at around 32% of the workforce, whilst the Census 2011 figures indicate that approximately 3% of those who are not economically active are in fact discouraged work seekers.
Madam Speaker, we have made significant progress to reduce the unemployment rate and our level of youth unemployment remains among the lowest in South Africa, some 17 percentage points less than the national average. This is particularly important given that 65% of Tshwane’s population is younger than 35 – which represents a significant opportunity for the City.
Madam Speaker, however, in spite of these achievements, the economy continues to face significant structural challenges. The most prominent ones are persistently high unemployment rates and inequality.
The Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, is currently at 0,63, and is amongst the highest in the world, coupled with and related to the unenviable unemployment rates. Higher inequality levels from growth thin the distribution of income and in so doing weaken the impact of economic growth on poverty. However, the role of the state in intervening in economic growth has often been hampered by market-led governance imperatives that manifest at a city-level through truncated expenditure and reduced service provision.
While we perform better than most metros in the country, we remain vigilant and leave no room for complacency. We see these positives as strategic opportunities that will graduate the City even further.
Provision of services
Madam Speaker, although the national government is a major player in the energy sector, the City has also taken steps to contribute to addressing this integral developmental requirement.
Our quest to have our people enjoy universal access to energy is bearing fruit, with the highest number of households now enjoying what was a privilege during the apartheid dispensation.
According to the 2011 Census, almost 90% of all households in Tshwane have been electrified, thereby exceeding the City’s five-year targets for electricity provision.
Over the next five years, Eskom will invest approximately R839 million in Tshwane to strengthen and refurbish projects that will provide additional capacity to the City to supply electricity. Currently under-serviced areas in Tshwane will be targeted in this regard.
A further significant contribution to improve the City’s power-generating capacity is the planned refurbishment of the City’s power stations at Rooiwal and Pretoria West.
The impact of this massive bulk infrastructure investment will create job opportunities and ensure the expansion of services to all communities.
Madam Speaker, another of the tragedies of apartheid South Africa was that the majority of our people had no access to clean, drinkable water.
Almost 90% of households in Tshwane now have access to piped water – a palpable and demonstrable measure of the transformation we have engendered.
We know that our country is not the most water-rich, and current projections indicate that by 2025, South Africa will approach or face physical water scarcity depending upon the measure utilised. In our endeavour to localise this, the City will conduct a water scarcity impact study to understand what the repercussions of these projections entail for Tshwane and its residents. This is aligned with our endeavour to localise a number of key geo-economic trends that are often projected at the national level.
We are also pleased to inform the Council that the City has maintained its Blue and Green Drop status. In these programmes, the City has achieved highly in terms of water quality standards and ratings.
We have resolved that by the end of December 2014, the existing 38 760 backlogs in basic sanitation must be eradicated. This will certainly be achieved once we allocate the requisite levels of funding during the budget process and all required infrastructure has been installed.
Madam Speaker, one of our key infrastructure service delivery programmes aimed at restoring dignity to our people is providing decent shelter and creating housing opportunities.
Since 2000, we have been hard at work to secure title deeds for our people.
This predominantly aims to aid residents who had been denied rights to own property. We have also been actively working to convert hostels into family units.
With regard to broadening housing delivery, in 2007 the Council adopted a mixed housing settlement policy that focuses on working with the private sector to house those who did not qualify for subsidies but who may have access to bonds.
As outlined in our Vision 2055, the first decade will significantly address housing, employment and transport in an integrated way. In this regard, in the context of our spatial reconfiguration of the city, we initiated a programme focused on formalising informal settlements, called “Re aga Tshwane” – “We are building Tshwane”.
This programme has the following guiding principles:
- Formalising informal settlements with the provision of basic services and amenities
- Proclaiming all unproclaimed towns
- Relocating people who are residing in unsuitable conditions or on dangerous land
- Providing community members with title deeds to their land
- Enhancing revenue protection and generation
In the 10 months that this programme has been running, 65 townships have been formalised, 7 townships have been proclaimed, 6 townships are in the process of being relocated, and 9 291 title deeds have been registered.
In other words, we have provided 63 046 housing opportunities, positively impacting approximately 252 184 people (assuming a family unit of four people). As the programme matures, we will be issuing three different approved building plans along with title deeds, thereby allowing communities to build their own homes within the regulatory framework.
With this programme, we are also providing parks, street names, waste removal services and ultra-thin concrete roads, thus completing the cycle of building liveable communities as expressed in our Vision 2055.
Madam Speaker, in the centenary year of the passage of the Natives’ Land Act of 1913, the City of Tshwane has begun its bold progressive programme to turn the tide against the shameful legacy that dispossessed black South Africans of the land of their forefathers by embracing the social contract it has with people, restoring their dignity and providing efficient rudimentary services.
To mark the centenary of the Natives’ Land Act, we made an announcement in Council in January 2013 and also made a commitment in the last State of the City Address, where we pronounced our intention to symbolically reverse the tenets of this Act by donating portions of land to churches and businesses from previously disadvantaged communities.
We were deliberate in stating the symbolism of our act because we recognised that this act of benevolence could not sufficiently reverse the dispossession that occurred in 1913 and continued through the enactment of various other laws.
In contributing to the erosion of the legacy of apartheid and the Natives’ Land Act in particular, we have donated over 140 parcels of land valued at over R60 million to churches across the City.
These churches are now free to invest in the construction or extension of their places of worship to properly serve their congregations and the surrounding community. The City is now considering applications from Regions 5 and 7, and these will be concluded soon.
It is fitting, Madam Speaker, that this programme commenced with churches as institutions that served as sanctuaries to oppressed people and also played a critical role in the liquidation of apartheid and the subsequent creation of a democratic society.
We have extended this programme to business owners who have operated businesses in the previously disadvantaged areas of Atteridgeville, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal and Marabastad, among others.
Madam Speaker and fellow Councillors, in the last 20 years, we have made strides in providing our communities with housing, better roads and storm water drainage systems as well as additional transport infrastructure with a view to reverse the spatial distortions due to the legacy of apartheid and colonialism.
Since 2007, we have upgraded gravel roads in former disadvantaged communities amounting to a capital investment of over R2,6 billion and storm water drainage amounting to R1,2 billion.
Madam Speaker and fellow citizens, that is the narrative of some of the major achievements made in the last 20 years of freedom and democracy with a focus on service delivery, albeit in epigrammatic form.
We are in the mid-term of our current electoral mandate.
Madam Speaker, to consolidate the achievements made and to effectively address the challenges identified, the City made a conscious decision to systematically implement catalytic programmes that will radically alter its trajectory as envisaged in the Tshwane Vision 2055.
Following the concretisation of our first-generation catalytic projects, we then developed and interrogated the next generation of key catalytic projects that will contribute to the City’s transformation agenda.
Our perspective on remaking the capital city is that by 2055, Tshwane will be a liveable, resilient and inclusive city whose citizens enjoy a high quality of life, have access to social, economic and enhanced political freedoms and where citizens are partners in the development of the African capital city of excellence.
In this regard, we recommit ourselves, as a result of our mutual concerted efforts, together with a diverse range of stakeholders, to realising this vision during the next four decades.
Madam Speaker, in remaking our capital city, we continue to ask ourselves: What makes a city liveable? And what will substantively distinguish Tshwane from other capital cities?
Madam Speaker, our view is that a liveable city is one in which it is convenient, safe, attractive and cost-effective to work, play and stay; a place that is adequately equipped with a range of amenities, ranging from adequate health care to green spaces and parks as well as exciting cultural precincts; and one in which conducive work spaces and places exist, supported by a range of transport options.
Madam Speaker, writing centuries ago, William Shakespeare in one of his tomes had occasion to counsel that “No legacy is as rich as honesty”.
We will endeavour to cultivate this ambition by being transparent and accountable in our initiatives and implementing the necessary mechanisms to ensure that our commitments are clearly linked to agreed-upon timelines, ongoing risk management strategies and effective mitigation strategies.
Remaking the spatial form of the capital city
As part of remaking the spatial form of the capital city, we are guided by the principles of justice, sustainability, resilience, spatial quality and spatial efficiency. In this regard, the City of Tshwane has embarked upon an urban regeneration programme that will result in visible changes to the development and management of the capital city.
Through this, we hope to catalyse private sector investment in and around priority areas and nodes. Among these projects are: the Tshwane Rapid Transport System, the Government Boulevard, the Times Square Precinct, Tshwane House, the Nelson Mandela Development Corridor and the West Capital Project.
We expect these interventions to strengthen investor confidence and create a vibrant, efficient and liveable city.
The A Re Yeng rapid transit system
The A Re Yeng rapid transit system for Tshwane continues to be rolled out and the next few months will see the improved ease of movement for commuters between the CBD and Hatfield.
The significance of this catalytic development is twofold in the sense that it is a safe mechanism that will undermine current structural distortions within Tshwane and potentially contribute towards reducing persistently high structural unemployment levels, currently afflicting the large space that is Tshwane. Secondly, this is the first time that the taxi industry can partner with the City of Tshwane to the benefit of all commuters.
In addition to this, Madam Speaker, we are also exploring an investment in light rail tram complementing our integrated rapid public transport network.
The Government Boulevard
Madam Speaker, the Government Boulevard will run predominantly along WF Nkomo Street and forms the basis for Re Kgabisa Tshwane. This is a joint project of the City of Tshwane and the National Department of Public Works to provide a long-term accommodation solution for government head offices as well as City of Tshwane offices and agencies.
These buildings will be located in the Capital Precinct, which is envisaged to be an expression of “the national spirit”, where events, celebrations, marches and festivals can be staged. Key to the precinct will be the use of public spaces, which will be created through the implementation of “people’s squares” – a celebration of South Africa’s heritage, culture and freedom.
In addition, Operation Reclaim will support the Government Boulevard by creating walkways and pedestrianising streets in the precinct. Construction has already commenced on Madiba Street (between Thabo Sehume and Lilian Ngoyi), on Pretorius Street (between Lilian Ngoyi and Thabo Sehume) and on Thabo Sehume Street (between Madiba and Pretorius).
Theatre and Times Square Precinct
The Tshwane Theatre and Times Square Precinct (entertainment hub) seeks to turn the inner city into a place where visitors can experience and celebrate South Africa’s heritage, culture and freedom through a series of simple offset lines, marketing and advertising in the inner city.
The first phase of the Tshwane Theatre and Times Square Precinct development concept has been completed. This concept aims to broaden the scope of participation of all property owners around the precinct, defining a fair revenue split between the City of Tshwane, property owners and outdoor advertising companies.
This project has to create a value proposition for the private sector and develop a policy dispensation that supports the creative nature of the precinct.
West Capital Development
In 2013, we announced the R6 billion plan of the City of Tshwane to redevelop the western part of the city over the next five to eight years. The anchor development node consists of four parcels of land, estimated to be 28 hectares in total and located to the west of the CBD, and will contribute towards catalysing activity to sustain viable communities.
The West Capital Project is not a simple land release and investment creation opportunity. It is an innovative service delivery mechanism and a substantive economic growth propeller, which will lay the foundation for repositioning and regenerating the identified area west of the city.
Madam Speaker, the West Capital Development Project, as a mixed-use development, consists of residential accommodation, which will include a student village, retail and commercial components, inner city housing and healthcare facilities. For this purpose, we have partnered with private sector developers.
In order to comply with the Constitutional Court order regarding the former Schubart Park residents, the City’s Mayoral Committee resolved to refurbish Schubart Park against the initial proposal of demolishing it. This is the result of a meaningful engagement required by the Constitutional Court between the City of Tshwane and the former Schubart Park residents.
This refurbishment will be in line with the City of Tshwane’s West Capital Precinct Development and the Inner City Regeneration initiative. A contractor has been appointed to commence with the hoarding of the site and a security company has been appointed for the site in line with the lease agreement. The refurbishment cost is estimated at R900 million and the project will be concluded within 24 months.
African Gateway
Madame Speaker, when we announced the African Gateway project, we said it represents a significant landmark of mixed-use development in the heart of Centurion.
The project is strategically located on an 80-hectare site close to airports, local rail stations, bus stations and the Centurion Gautrain station and will be integrated with the planned Government and Tshwane International Convention Centre (TICC) precincts. Furthermore, in order to unlock the development of the node, we have completed an Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan for Centurion.
Two International Institutions (AU and UN) are expected to take up occupation in Tshwane and the total estimated value of the project is R6,1 billion. The steps to unlock this potential agreement are underway and we are working with DIRCO to ensure that we comply with all necessary requirements.
Symbio City
Madam Speaker, the Symbio City concept entails the conversion of ten hectares of land, which surrounds and includes the manmade Centurion Lake, into the vibrant mixed-use Symbio City that will link the Centurion Gautrain station with the existing Centurion Mall.
We approved the use of Symbio City land parcels owned by the City of Tshwane for use by private developers, using section 14 of our Town Planning Scheme. We have undertaken drilling and geology testing to determine the extent of developable land as part of the broader Centurion Master Plan.
Tshwane House
Just as Freedom Park and the Voortrekker Monument represent the embracing of our past and future, so too will Tshwane House represent the launch of a new history, while embracing the old. Its crowning centre piece will be a state-of-the-art Council Chamber seating the people of Tshwane’s elected representatives, the standards of which will meet international best practice. This venue will be capable of hosting high-level African and international bodies.
Tshwane House is symbolic and embodies the City of Tshwane’s two guiding ambitions:
(1) to build an African capital city of excellence; and (2) igniting excellence in all that it does on behalf of the people of Tshwane City.
Tshwane House will be home to both the executive and legislative branch of the City of Tshwane and a strong centre of regionalised intergovernmental service delivery facilities located where our people live. Based on state-of-the-art space planning, it will make the administration more efficient and improve the working conditions and career opportunities of employees. In short, it will be the foundation for making the civil service a career of choice and aspiration.
The City is now determined to achieve a six-star Green Building rating and has already articulated its plans in this regard aligned its green vision.
The Tshwane House project is in the final stages of implementation. The much publicised implosion of Munitoria took place on 7 July 2013. The site has since been cleared and construction will commence in July 2014, following the public comment process. This iconic building will be ready for occupation by the final quarter of 2016.
We have also seen a need to facilitate the development of the eastern areas of the capital city. This project will result in a dynamic mega node in the east.
East Capital
The East Capital project covers the areas of Cullinan, Bronkhorstspruit and Rayton. This intervention seeks to ensure spatial justice by promoting economic development and attracting investment in the eastern parts of Tshwane and could make us the first city on the continent where principles of green development are implemented.
The plan is to focus on developing a “green belt’’ of industries, agricultural beneficiation and green settlements. Our processes and administrative efforts are already being put to use to ensure that the proposed area does not only reside in plans but is realised within the medium to long term.
Dinokeng Festival
As part of celebrating South Africa's twenty years of democracy, the City of Tshwane will be hosting a spectacular three-day Dinokeng Festival that would grow to become something like the Glastonbury Music Festival in England. The Dinokeng Festival is expected to occur in September 2014. It is to become an annual event that will generate significant revenue and also contribute towards job creation in Tshwane.
Madam Speaker and fellow citizens, certainly you will agree that these initiatives represent a refreshing approach to Tshwane and points towards elements of economic, social and environmental sustainability.
Moreover, these interventions will be less about a hard line, exclusionary and superficial beautification of the city and its spaces and more about creating opportunities for people to express themselves throughout the city, be it through various art forms, café lifestyles or the public expression of democratic rights around Church Square. In many global cities, this plays an important role in the creation of sustainable and liveable cities.
Resilience is core to remaking the capital city
In line with Tshwane Vision 2055, we will ensure that our natural environment and heritage are resilient. The manner in which we distribute and utilise water, recycle waste, manage our energy infrastructure, manage land and the transport network that supports the economy as well as the green assets at our disposal will be a testimony to an achievable outcome.
The Renewable Energy Drive will ensure that Tshwane is at the forefront of reducing carbon emission through the production of clean energy. A number of projects have been identified, including the replacement of petroleum with compressed natural gas (CNG) as a fuel choice for the propulsion of almost 5 500 city vehicles.
It is anticipated that half of the City of Tshwane’s fleet will be converted by 2016 and the rest by 2020, thereby demonstrating our commitment to the targets we have set in Tshwane Vision 2055.
In June 2014, we will be announcing the city’s carbon footprint, which symbolises our commitment to driving our sustainability programme and, subsequently, towards the reduction of carbon emissions.
Madam Speaker, we have identified our power stations for rehabilitation to ensure that they produce clean energy while being financially feasible. We have already initiated the rehabilitation process starting with a call for qualification. The successful bidder will be appointed at the end of the next financial year.
We are conscious that the greening and beautification of neighbourhoods are as important as creating places where families live and play. Our two parks per ward initiative is being rolled out and we have spent R112 million to date. In the 2012/13 financial year, we completed 43 parks, six of which are major regional thematic parks. We endeavour to ensure that each ward has a minimum of two parks by the end of the Council’s term.
The sustainable urban food and energy production initiative is a community-based central farm linked to SMME production units in the eastern part of the capital city. By- products from these production units and the central farm will be used to generate bio- energy.
Landfill gas generation will see seven of our landfill sites being used for the extraction of landfill (methane) gas to produce concentrated natural gas (CNG) or more electricity. In December 2013, we closed three of our landfill sites and we are fast running out of space at the remaining sites. We are, therefore, commencing a multiple sorting and recycling facility at the Kwaggasrand site and linking that with a plant that will process the remaining waste for electricity generation.
We will also implement a project of energy generation from waste water treatment facilities by converting their sludge into bio-energy. The site will become a vibrant waste processing plant that will present significant cost-cutting benefits and generate new jobs. Waste is now seen as a resource that can present maximum economic benefits.
We are facilitating solar energy generation through the development of a concentrated solar plant in Bronkhorstspruit to contribute towards the diversification of the energy mix in the capital city. The green neighbourhood project will be initiated at Zithobeni Heights as part of our objectives of establishing new townships in the east. This groundbreaking project will create the first neighbourhood of its kind, self-sufficient in terms of food production, rainwater harvesting, energy generation, low-carbon buildings, energy- efficient lighting as well as waste treatment facilities and bio-waste digesters.
In our contribution towards this investment, we have successfully introduced municipal bonds in 2013 and we are currently exploring the introduction of green municipal bonds in order to enable and further elevate the level of implementation in this area.
Remaking the economy of the capital city
Madam Speaker, the period between 2008 and 2012 has demonstrated the scale of public versus private investment in Tshwane. In this period, building plan applications amounting to just over R20 billion were submitted, of which 97% were from the private sector.
Madam Speaker, this further illustrates the confidence of the private sector in the city and it also dispels the myth that the economy of our city is primarily dependent on government investment.
The fact of the matter is that although government remains one of the key drivers of the economy of the city, there is strong potential for economic growth in the manufacturing, innovation-led and knowledge-producing sectors, as previously mentioned.
Our ability to successfully implement our catalytic projects through innovative partnerships with the private sector will go a long way in transforming the lives of the people of Tshwane. City Properties have already committed over R2billion of investment following our interventions. We believe that this merely marks the beginning.
Madam Speaker, the ongoing Expanded Public Works Programme has created more than 20 000 new work opportunities in the 2012/13 financial year and we are optimistic that 30 000 new work opportunities will be created in the 2013/14 financial year.
As a result of the success of the “Vat Alles” programme, we will be absorbing an additional 600 new beneficiaries during April 2014. These new beneficiaries, from historically disadvantaged communities, will complement the “Vat Alles” beneficiaries who are working tirelessly to ensure that our capital city is clean and safe.
As a sign of our commitment towards job creation and skills development for young people in Tshwane, the implementation of the Tshepo 10 000 programme has been taking shape since its launch late last year. The criterion for selection was to target the 25 poorest wards with prospective participants clustered according to education levels: ranging from those with no schooling to those with post-graduate degrees. By utilising our own machinery as well as partnerships, the City of Tshwane will ensure the requisite levels of success in this project.
Madam Speaker, in partnership with the University of Pretoria, to date 6 354 Tshepo 10 000 beneficiaries have been trained in entrepreneurial skills and in the establishment of cooperatives in their communities. ABSA has also trained 3 070 beneficiaries in team building, group dynamics and financial management skills. This has resulted in the creation of 48 new cooperatives in Tshwane.
Our strategy to guarantee the success and viability of the Tshepo 10 000 project includes ensuring that 25% of all City of Tshwane contracts are awarded to SMMEs and cooperatives from the marginalised groups.
We are exploring the feasibility of establishing a Tshwane SMME fund to bridge the divide faced by small, micro and medium-sized businesses in accessing finance. This is intended to ensure a level of economic justice for marginalised businesses.
Madam Speaker, the City of Tshwane considers the informal sector to be a versatile, dynamic and indispensable part of our city’s economy. It contributes to job creation and poverty alleviation and provides poor households with much needed income-generating opportunities. The contribution of the informal sector to Tshwane is in excess R600 million annually.
In our endeavour to strengthen support to this sector, we have constructed marketing and trading stalls between Lilian Ngoyi and Johannes Ramokhoase Streets as well as other areas of the city. We are also renovating the Barolak Building to provide storage facilities for informal traders. We have accommodated informal trading representatives in a Trading Administration Block as part of our ongoing support and our drive to maintain transparent communication with the sector.
Connectivity and economic growth
Madam Speaker, we are a society of unequal opportunities on many fronts, often contributing to the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. In the current digital economy, a lack of access to internet connectivity denies the poorest in our society the requisite opportunities to access basic knowledge to help them change their plight.
This excludes them from participating in the mainstream economy with disastrous consequences for the country. The City of Tshwane has therefore embarked on various initiatives to alter this undesirable situation.
Madam Speaker, our perspective is that access to connectivity must be viewed as a basic human right, analogous to the provision of basic services such as water and electricity. We have made tremendous progress in closing the digital divide and expanding internet connectivity.
Tshwane has made history by becoming the first metro to roll out free Wi-Fi and indeed our announcement of the provision of this service was made before the City of New York’s announcement – this is indeed a ground-breaking achievement for an African city.
In the next eighteen months, the City of Tshwane will expand the project and roll out about 600 additional Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Tshwane, prioritising institutions of learning. This unprecedented intervention will set up Tshwane as an e-capital of excellence and a driver of our country’s education aligned to the creation of a smart city.
Madam Speaker, in the State of the City Address last year, we shared our resolve to move away from manual business processes, which are often tedious and cause unnecessary delays in rendering services to our people.
In this this regard, we have taken a bold step and implemented an online transacting system, e-Tshwane. Amongst other advantages, e-Tshwane will make services available online all hours every day and provide a real-time update of accounts to avoid unnecessary inconvenience from cut-offs in instances where accounts have not been paid.
Over 30 000 account holders are already using the system that was launched in November last year. This is bold step towards the national realisation of e-government services.
Remaking a liveable and safe capital city
Madam Speaker, every nation has a duty to create a liveable, safe and healthy environment for its people.
We are deploying four officers in each ward across Tshwane with the intention of growing this ratio to ten officers per ward once the current 2 200 trainees complete their programme.
We expect this increase in police visibility, coupled with the roll-out of 151 CCTV cameras in different parts of Tshwane to dramatically reduce crime levels in known crime hotspots. The roll-out of CCTV cameras will be completed by the end of the current financial year.
Access to healthcare is a basic human right. In this regard, during the period under review, we have delivered major projects, which include the extension of clinics, the renovation of clinics and the building of new clinics, especially in informal settlement areas.
In the spirit of cooperative governance we have continued our work on healthcare provision by working closely with the Gauteng Government so as to strengthen free primary healthcare services in 23 municipal clinics. Over 60% of facilities are now providing comprehensive primary healthcare in the city.
Across the city, 98% of households have access to primary healthcare within five kilometres of their home.
Our healthcare facilities provide services to more than 1,7 million people per annum, which is indeed indicative of confidence in the quality of healthcare provision.
Madam Speaker, we are delighted to report that all our clinics now provide a holistic service with respect to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. We are now about to implement an electronic antiretroviral patient system across all our clinics.
We are also stepping up our fight against substance abuse and particularly nyaope, the use of which we know is highly prevalent amongst youths in our townships. We have already concluded stakeholder consultation in all regions and we are now finalising our strategy.
Remaking the capital city through innovative governance solutions
Madam Speaker, progress on the Security of Revenue project, which includes the roll- out of smart meter readers, was hampered by a legal challenge.
The matter was heard by the Gauteng North High Court on 14 March 2014. The City of Tshwane opposed the matter in order to safeguard the substantial benefits of the project, both to the City of Tshwane and citizens at large. We are pleased to say that we were successful in its defense and the interdict was dismissed. In dismissing the interdict, the honourable Justice JH Fabricius said, "It is my view ... that the applicants have failed to establish the necessary requisites for an interim interdict largely on their own version and certainly not on the Respondents' version.”
Following the outcome of the legal process, further announcements will be made on the specifics of the roll-out programme in the near future.
Madam Speaker, last year we announced our intention to undertake measures to strengthen accountability and improve service delivery in the form of performance contracts between the Executive Mayor and Members of the Mayoral Committee.
We are pleased to report that the system has been established and all Members of the Mayoral Committee have signed performance agreements with the Executive Mayor and we meet on a quarterly basis to assess the City of Tshwane’s performance.
The signing ceremony was open to the public and all agreements of Members of the Mayoral Committee are available in my office for public scrutiny.
Madam Speaker, in order to enhance our city’s inclusive sustainable growth trajectory, we need to maximise the return on our assets. This is critical in ensuring that the City of Tshwane optimises the utilisation of its assets and expenditure.
In line with our commitments towards achieving financial resilience, we have started with a balance sheet restructuring and optimisation, which seeks to identify alternative sources of revenue, improve operational efficiencies, restructure our asset portfolio and explore alternative funding models to support exponentially growing infrastructure demands.
Madam Speaker, as previously alluded to, we need to ensure that we manage our immovable assets so that we derive the associated maximum benefits. The City of Tshwane will refocus its approach to property management so as to make it part of its Real Estate Optimisation Strategy.
We will continue to identify strategic land parcels to facilitate private and public investment so as to maximise value for the City of Tshwane and citizens. For example, we are currently investigating the investment potential along the TRT corridor to draw benefits from the economic growth spillovers of transport.
Madam Speaker, we have residents of gated communities in Tshwane who have opted for the electricity supply through third-party vendors. The discounts that these third-party vendors enjoy are often not passed on to residents in those communities.
In most instances, these third-party vendors even fail to service their debt with the Municipality, thus leaving residents with a huge debt.
With the development of the draft Mid-term Revenue and Expenditure Framework for 2014/15, we will no longer be providing this discount to third-party vendors.
This is a deliberate action to ensure that all residents of Tshwane enjoy the same tariff structure, including bulk purchasers, some of whom have thus far been exploiting residents.
Madam Speaker, we received the fourth consecutive unqualified financial audit opinion with findings on laws and regulations from the Office of the Auditor-General. In our quest to obtain an unqualified financial audit opinion with no findings on performance in laws and regulations, the Operation Clean Audit Committee has been fully institutionalised in the City of Tshwane under the leadership of the City Manager.
Madam Speaker, the Innovation Hub is partnering with the City in rolling out the first pilot of an integrated solution to prevent duplication involved in the dispensing of chronic medication through biometric intervention. Patients at pilot clinics will enter their details, including biometric identification, which will then be aptly reflected on a central database.
Following this pilot, the City will roll out this model to the rest of its primary healthcare facilities and potentially render the National Health Department with a solution that can be replicated across the country.
Madam Speaker, we plan to invest in establishing an integrated command centre for Tshwane. This will be a multifaceted and integrated approach to coordinate all operations of the City so that we operate in a pre-emptive and preventative manner.
As a part of improving the quality of service delivery, the City has entered into an MOA with the SABS to implement the ISO 9001 quality management system. We are proud to announce that three departments have been certified, namely Emergency Services, Sport and Recreational Services, and Services Infrastructure. ISO 9001 implementation is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.
An active citizenry to remake the capital city
Madam Speaker, an engaged citizenry is incontrovertibly indispensable in the success and growth of a democratic way of life.
It constitutes both the minimum and sufficient conditions for ossifying the foundations of democracy, particularly at the local government level.
Both the executive and legislative arms of the City of Tshwane remain ready, willing and able to cultivate a culture of social justice in line with the rich traditions espoused in the liberation struggle.
An active citizenry is in no respect limited to a passive role of holding the executive and the legislature arms to account, but locates itself at the very heart of the conception and execution of policies and programmatic interventions.
We aim to harness the diverse backgrounds of people from all walks of life whose history, aspirations and dreams shape their expectations of the City of Tshwane.
We also acknowledge that the manner in which we collaborate with our communities and stakeholders are a pre-requisite for addressing issues of urban growth.
Madam Speaker, aligned to our strategic communication agenda, the City of Tshwane will be partnering with organisations across media platforms to actively engage and communicate with Tshwane residents. In this regard, the City will be pursuing active partnerships with all Tshwane-based community radio stations.
Madam Speaker, social cohesion and investing in our arts, culture and heritage are core to creating a liveable and caring city. The City of Tshwane aims to create an art bank to support local artists by providing direct opportunities for income generation to arts and crafts practitioners. There is also the possibility of their products being displayed in major national and international exhibitions.
We are also exploring the creation of the largest national monument in the country at the Fountains Valley Nature Reserve. This entails an assembly of life-size statues of luminaries of our democratic dispensation, which will be displayed in a symbolic walk towards a united South Africa. It represents the reconnection with those who were the midwives of the new dispensation, as symbolised by the grand statue of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings.
We remain obstinate in our resolve to create a “caring city” aimed at improving the quality of life of our entire citizenry and freeing the potential of each person, as the supreme law of our land – the Constitution – insistently enjoins upon us.
Let us celebrate our freedom and consolidate our gains
Madam Speaker, we are charged with the historic responsibility of emulating the exemplary conduct of the heroes and heroines that once lived amongst us. The City of Tshwane is, therefore, excited about the “Relive the memory of President Nelson Mandela” project through which we intend mapping and tracing Tata Madiba’s last “footsteps” in Tshwane along the memorial route of the cortege from 1-Military Hospital to the Union Buildings and ultimately to the Waterkloof Air Force Base.
As part of recollecting our history, we will map out and audit all heritage resources, including tracing the origins and development of our townships and their names.
This would culminate in the anniversary celebrations of these townships, marking their endurance and resistance in struggles against racial segregation and apartheid and completing the brand face of the City.
This year is the 40th anniversary of Soshanguve. We must celebrate this landmark whilst asking the question “What is Soshanguve?” In the same way that we have asked “What is the name of South Africa’s capital city?”
We are currently undertaking work in Mamelodi for the Solomon Mahlangu Precinct that will also serve as a multipurpose facility, which will include among others preservation of our history and rich cultural heritage.
We, as the city administration, have placed a high premium on building strong and effective partnerships with corporate entities, civil society and community-based organisations so as to reach all affected and interested parties.
For the remainder of the year we will celebrate our 20 years of freedom and in the same vein fortify our resolve to position Tshwane as the leading African capital city.
Conclusion
As the current administration, we remain stubbornly committed to consolidating and advancing service delivery in line with our stated intentions to ignite excellence and to position the capital city as the fountainhead of excellence. In this regard, we have secured the long-term trajectory of the City by locating all our programmatic interventions in the context of our long-term Vision for 2055.
We also noted that, as a new entity that has hardly gone beyond a quinquennium and being a product of recent restructuring processes, we have covered huge mileage in contributing to the developmental gains of the past twenty years of freedom and democracy.
We can thus declare without any fear of contradiction that ours is a better, more resilient, liveable and inclusive city than it was twenty years ago.
By so saying, we are not by any chance conveying a misleading message that we have arrived at our destiny, but are merely propagating the palpable extent of our achievements in the past two decades.
In honour of those we serve and at whose behest we do so, we are habituated to telling no lies, masking no difficulties, hiding nothing from the masses, and claiming no easy victories!
The gains and achievements of the past twenty years have not pacified us into falsely believing that our road will henceforth become a smooth and uninterrupted one.
This critical insight we gained from the wisdom of illustrious figures in the service of humanity on whose giant shoulders we continue to stand in order to see far ahead and stare the future in the face.
Madam Speaker and fellow citizens, you will recall that it was Nelson Mandela who opined that “after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”.
The Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci echoed the same sentiment when noting that “the challenge of [constructing a just and humane society] is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned”.
In the same vein, the German philosopher Karl Marx also observed that “there is no royal road to success. Only those who do not dread the fatiguing climbs of its steep paths stand a chance of reaching its luminous summits”.
It is these insights and sagacity that helped impel our inexorable progress through the vicissitudes of time towards a better future for all our citizens.
We have evidently taken massive and decisive strides in that direction – there should be no doubt or argument about that.
The ever-changing spatial outlook of our capital city is a living testament of the extent to which our social and economic geography is changing for the better.
In this State of the Capital Address, we commit and pledge to double our efforts with a view to accelerate the pace of reconstruction and development in our city.
This we have to do on account of the covenant with our people to serve them honestly, meticulously and judiciously.
This we will also do in honour of the memory of our departed heroes and heroines who devoted their entire lives to the service of humanity
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It will please us to know that Mme Martha Mahlangu and Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela will confidently convey an unequivocal message to those they encounter in the other dimension that indeed the country they left behind is better than it was twenty years ago and that the future is indeed bright!
It will give us a great deal of pride were Mme Mahlangu to say to Solomon – My son, as your divinatory words assured, your blood did indeed nourish the tree of liberty and your people are enjoying the fruits of freedom!
It is that which cements our conscience to obstinately, obdurately and tenaciously serve the social, cultural, spiritual, economic and political needs of our citizens.
We invite all of you, the freedom-loving people of our capital city to join us in this relentless and irrevocable journey to the kingdom of a better life for all citizens of the metropolitan City of Tshwane.
In the remarkable and prodigious words of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: “Let freedom reign ... and never let the sun set on so glorious a human achievement!”
Thank you for listening!
