Mayor vows to tackle apartheid legacy
THE City of Cape Town is implementing an exciting Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP) in terms of the legislation in order to reverse the legacy of apartheid spatial planning, modernise government, improve service delivery and become more customer-centric.
The ODTP comes after extensive research and reflection on the work we have done in the past five years where we have interrogated the way we work and we now have to aggressively enhance service delivery and our connection with customers, especially the poor.
Cape Town is one of the fastest-growing cities in South Africa and this means we also have to address urbanisation. In the past five years, the City has spent more than 67 percent of its budget in the poorer areas as confirmed by the National Treasury, who noted that the City was “overly generous” in its provision of free basic services.
I will, however, be the first to admit a lot more has to be done to improve the living conditions of the poor and to redress the imbalances of the past.
During the previous term, we implemented a number of changes, such as adopting a transversal management approach to break down silos and ensure greater collaboration between departments.
The ODTP is a legislative requirement when considering local government legislation and regulations, specifically the Municipal Structures Act and the Municipal Systems Act.
The ODTP will be incorporated into the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) to outline the organisational requirements needed to give life to strategic planning. The formulation of the ODTP has been an extensive process, with careful consideration and widespread consultation with all stakeholders and with the unions as partners in the process.
On August 24, 2016, council adopted the ODTP, which serves as the blueprint for building a more sustainable, responsive and effective organisation, and help to take local government to the next level.
One of the key changes the ODTP has brought about is a service delivery focus to bring about even greater parity of services for everyone in the city.
The Area-based Service Delivery Directorate is responsible for transversal management to ensure that all services in all 10 departments in the City are operational, functional and measurable in line with the five strategic pillars within the demarcated geographical areas.
Area-based service delivery is not just about basic services like water, electricity and sanitation.
It includes all services rendered by the City through the following directorates:
Transport and Urban Development. Energy. Assets and Facilities Management. Corporate Services. Finance. Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services. Safety and security. Social Services.
The four area-based geographical locations are set out as:
North: this quadrant includes areas such as Mamre, Atlantis, Durbanville, Melkbos, Milnerton, Brooklyn, Maitland, Langa, Kraaifontein, Observatory, Cape Town, Sea Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay
East: this quadrant includes areas such as Kuils River, Khayelitsha, Eerste River, Somerset West, Strand and Sir Lowry’s Pass
South: this quadrant includes areas such as Constantia, Noordhoek, Cape Point, Muizenberg, Retreat, Philippi, Mitchells Plan, Newlands and Rondebosch
Central: this quadrant includes areas such as Goodwood, Epping, Parow, Bellville, Delft, Manenberg, Gugulethu and Athlone
The four area-based mayoral committee members will be the faces of the caring city, the eyes and ears of the safe and inclusive city and the hands and feet of the wellrun city of opportunity.
This will be achieved through decentralising service delivery in four services areas where co-ordination and integration of services takes place.
In terms of the new mayoral committee, who will be the political principals of the new portfolios, all mayoral committee members have been appointed as of January 1, 2017.
In terms of legislation, the role and functions of mayoral committee members are not the same as ministers or MECs. All mayoral committee members are equal and are there to assist and advise me as the executive mayor in terms of their various responsibilities.
The ODTP has led to a number of changes as we set out to make our engagement and customer relations techniques the focus point of our service design. These changes include the restructuring of the macro-structure by reducing the number of directorates from 11 to 10, to give effect to the new service delivery model.
Last year, the City took a bold step to establish the Transport and Urban Development Authority, known as TDA Cape Town, by combining the functions of transport, urban development and elements of human settlements into one sphere of control with the aim of reversing the effects of apartheid spatial planning.
As we set out to take our city to greater heights, TDA Cape Town will be one of the most exciting spaces in the City of Cape Town and will be responsible for implementing our Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategic Framework which will stop long-distance commutes, urban sprawl and lead to higher densities with shorter travelling distances.
This is a crucial plan for our city as the poor are currently spending 40% of their income on transport.
TOD will see the city become more connected and integrated where residents will have greater access to transport, economic opportunities and affordable and inclusive residential opportunities.
Two examples which demonstrate that we are already moving in this direction are the Foreshore Freeway prospectus for the unfinished bridges and the Maiden’s Cove development where a condition is that any new development must make provision for affordable housing and ease congestion.
What will follow in the next five years are the five TOD projects that we have identified thus far in Paardevlei, Bellville, Philippi, the CBD and Athlone, which we announced in July last year.
The second example is the establishment of the Energy Directorate, where we will move away from merely being just a distributor of electricity, but we will now be pursuing energy generation as well, especially renewables, so that we can make Cape Town energy secure and give residents greater choice about what kind of energy they use and how much they pay for it.
This will also help us reach our target of sourcing at least 20 percent of our energy needs from renewable sources. In terms of the executive mayoral system as defined in law, the responsibility for ensuring that the City works is still that of the mayor.
The deputy mayor will no longer be assigned to a portfolio, but will function as a true deputy by assisting me in my duties in terms of Section 56 of the Municipal Structures Act.
Former Mayco Ernest Sonnenberg has resigned as a councillor, gone through a competitive process and taken up a position in the administration. Councillor Benedicta van Minnen has been appointed as chairperson of the disciplinary committee and will be assisting the speaker in governance matters. The Mayco responsible for portfolios will be as follows:
Transport and Urban Development Authority: Councillor Brett Herron
Herron has served as a mayoral committee member: transport for Cape Town previously and has helped pioneer the City’s key spatial strategy of Transit-Oriented Development and the roll-out of MyCiTi.
Finance: Councillor Johan van der Merwe
Van der Merwe has also served as a Mayco member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning, and served as a Finance Portfolio Committee chairperson.
He has a deep understanding of financial matters, with a PhD in finance.
Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; Energy: Councillor Xanthea Limberg
Limberg has also served as a Mayco member for Corporate Services and also as an Environment, Energy and Spatial Planning Portfolio Committee chairperson. She has help delivered one of our biggest public utility projects in the city, the broadband network.
Assets and Facilities Management: Councillor Stuart Diamond
Diamond has served as a Finance Portfolio Committee Chairperson and has an excellent understanding of the City’s property management and assets portfolios.
Social Services; and Safety and Security: Alderman JP Smith
Smith served as a previous Mayco member for Safety and Security, and a Safety and Security Portfolio Committee chairperson, and a sub-council chairperson.
Corporate Services: Councillor Raelene Arendse
Arendse served as a Social Development Portfolio Committee chairperson and has played a key role in the City’s social cluster, specialising in transversal approaches to complex social issues.
The four area-based Mayoral Committee Members will be:
North: Councillor Suzette Little
Little served as a Mayco member for Social Development and Early Childhood Development and a sub-council chairperson. She helped deliver the City’s social development strategy, which has driven a holistic approach to tackling social issues.
East: Councillor Anda Ntsodo Ntsodo has taken an active leadership role in community development and service delivery issues where he demonstrated an excellent understanding of community issues. He previously served as a Mayco member for Community Services.
South: Councillor Eddie Andrews
Cllr Andrews has served as a Mayco member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development and as a sub-council chairperson with distinction and had helped consolidate a key part of the city by focusing on service delivery issues and ensuring that there was a high level of government responsiveness in his area.
Central: Councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli
Mamkeli has previously served as a Mayco member for Health, and as Mayco member for Human Settlements, and as a sub-council chairperson.
He has an excellent understanding of how the sub-council system works as well as the critical Human Settlements and Health portfolios.
Thank you for the trust you have placed in me. We are ready to make even more progress possible together and embark on the next chapter of making our great city even greater.
De Lille is executive mayor of Cape Town