Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
An own metropolitan police detective unit for Cape Town; the purchase of hundreds of megawatts of cheaper electricity from independent producers with the aim of passing the savings on to residents; and the lowest property tax of all South Africa’s cities.
Those undertakings for the next five years, Geordin Hill-Lewis, mayor of Cape Town, gave on Saturday, should the DA remain in power after November and Hill-Lewis be re-elected as mayor.
Hill-Lewis was announced on Saturday morning in Hanover Park, Cape Town, as the DA’s mayoral candidate for the Mother City.
“These are undertakings you can hold us to. These are not mere promises. They are based on the record of the things we have already done,” Hill-Lewis, who has fulfilled every one of his undertakings in his current term, told supporters in Hanover Park on Saturday.
Five new ventures
Stronger policing
Hill-Lewis believes that the Cape Town Metro has no other choice but to continue building its own policing capacity.
“We refuse to accept that crime is just part of life. We cannot accept that mothers have to listen to gunshots at night and wonder if their children are safe during the day. We cannot accept that illegal firearms move through our communities while the national police service is not doing its job properly.
“The SAPS is failing too many communities. The police are underfunded, poorly led and in many places corrupt police officers are in corrupt relationships with gangs.
“To take Cape Town forward, we will build a metro police detective unit so that we can investigate cases ourselves,” he then undertakes.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Hill-Lewis believes that Cape Town needs a complete chain of accountability: detection, investigation, prosecution and conviction.
“We cannot wait for the SAPS to fight crime. The only way we will live without fear is if we build our own policing capacity. I will not stop fighting until we have the forces we need, the tools we need and the officers we need to make Cape Town safer for everyone.”
Job opportunities
For every job that the Johannesburg Metro currently creates, the Cape Town Metro creates seven.
Hill-Lewis undertakes to create even more jobs should the Cape voters renew his mandate as mayor in November.
“Friends, in our first term, Cape Town created more jobs than any other city in South Africa – 480,000 new jobs in four and a half years. Only 70,000 new jobs were created in Johannesburg in the same period.”
He then points out that all three Gauteng metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni – have created fewer new jobs (348 000) than Cape Town in the last four and a half years.
“Put another way, for every one job created in Johannesburg, almost seven new jobs are created in Cape Town. “Friends, this did not happen by accident. This happened because the DA governs in Cape Town,” says Hill-Lewis.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
“But we know that it’s not the government that creates those jobs. It’s businesses that create those jobs. But the point is, where this party governs, we get things going. We create the conditions for businesses to invest.
“This means we must further reduce the red tape that blocks growth. This means we must be even stricter to eliminate unnecessary procedures and fees. This means we must streamline licensing procedures.”
He then points out that Cape Town has not only created more jobs than any other city in South Africa, but has also invested more in infrastructure than any other city in South Africa, “in fact more than many of the other cities combined”.
“This investment has made Cape Town the most functional and successful city in the country.”
This is why the DA will continue to invest more in essential infrastructure than any other metro in South Africa, should the party remain in power after November. “Because when cities work, people work,” says Hill-Lewis.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Reliable and affordable services
The relatively young politician believes that Cape Town must remain a city that provides reliable services while keeping costs as affordable as possible.
He therefore undertakes to reduce the metro’s dependence on Eskom even further so that residents pay less for electricity.
To do so, he pledged Saturday to buy hundreds more megawatts of cheaper electricity from independent producers, then pass those savings on to residents.
Hill-Lewis also undertook to replace four times as many sewer pipes as currently.
(Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
“This quarter we quadrupled sewer pipe replacements and doubled water pipe replacements to reduce water pipe bursts.
“To take Cape Town forward for everyone, we will double our fresh water pipe replacement again. We will replace 100 kilometers of fresh water pipe and 100 kilometers of sewage pipe every year,” undertook Hill-Lewis.
“It’s not glamorous work. But it’s the work that brings dignity to more people… And I will not shy away from this duty.
“We will do this by spending public money efficiently, and in doing so we will keep our property tax the lowest of all South African cities,” he further assured.
“Because clean, functional and reliable government must also be affordable government.”
More affordable homes
“People come to Cape Town because they believe they can build a better life here. This is a strength. But it also puts pressure on housing, transport and services,” explains Hill-Lewis.
“We must meet that growth with bold, practical action. He pointed out that the metro has delivered more homes than any other city in the country, “and we have made more city land available in Cape Town for affordable and social housing than ever before”.
“To take Cape Town forward, we will intensify our affordable rental unit program by collaborating with the private sector,” he undertakes.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
“We will make more city land available for affordable housing. We will upgrade informal settlements.”
He also undertakes to protect communities from illegal land occupation should he remain mayor of Cape Town, “because illegal occupation does not solve the housing crisis, it worsens it. It destroys planned development, undermines the rights of law-abiding residents and makes it difficult to deliver services fairly.
“We will tax commercial operators of short-term rentals at business rates because we need to be honest about the pressures in the housing market and ensure that Cape Town remains a place where working families can live.”
Cleaner public spaces
Hill-Lewis then finally undertakes to offer cleaner public spaces to the residents of Cape Town.
“You saw how much I love picking up litter. It’s a passion, even an obsession of mine,” he joked on Saturday in Hanover before he undertook to invest even more in cleaning.
“We will take tougher action against illegal dumping and littering. We will continue to upgrade parks, beaches, sidewalks and public spaces. We will expand cleaning services in informal settlements. And we will expand access to our safe spaces and social services for the homeless.”
(Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
‘Folks, we’re way ahead of us’
“People, we are way ahead,” Hill-Lewis said on Saturday about the state of his metro compared to the rest of the country.
“But Cape Town is by no means perfect. And there is still so much to do. But we show the whole country what a working city looks like – for everyone. People everywhere say, if it can happen in Cape Town, it can also happen here.”
“But we cannot be complacent,” Hill-Lewis said on Saturday.
“I want every resident to hear me clearly: We are not asking you to judge us only by what we say today. Judge us by what we have already done. Judge us by the fact that Cape Town continues to move forward while so much of South Africa has gone backwards. And then judge us again after the election, every day, against these companies. So today I ask the people of Cape Town for a renewed mandate.”
Maroela Media visited Geordin Hill-Lewis’ mayoral office to talk about the Mother City and the upcoming local elections. Watch Maroela Media for this interview.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Alan Winde, Western Cape premier. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)