Statement by Geordin Hill-Lewis – Leader of the Democratic Alliance and Cape Town Mayoral Candidate:
Today in Rocklands, Mitchell’s Plain, I launched my fourth pledge to the people of Cape Town to keep essential services reliable and affordable by investing in infrastructure, reducing our reliance on Eskom, and keeping municipal costs as low as possible.
In the last term, we quadrupled our sewer pipe replacement to 100km a year, and doubled our fresh-water pipe replacement to 50km a year.
In the next term, we will replace 100 km of fresh-water pipes and 100 km of sewer pipes every year.
In the last term we purchased 200MW of renewal independent power.
Now we will ramp up our purchases of independent power to 700MW, all of which is cheaper than Eskom power, so that we can pass on these savings to the public.
And we will maintain the lowest property rates among South Africa’s metros.
Reliable basic services are the foundation of a city that works.
People should be able to turn on a tap and know that water will come out. They should be able to switch on a light and know the electricity will work. And they should know that their city is maintaining the roads, pipes and infrastructure their communities depend on.
Families are under real financial pressure. Food costs more. Transport costs more. Electricity costs more. Local government cannot solve every cost-of-living pressure, but it has a responsibility not to add unnecessarily to the burden.
That is why affordability must go hand in hand with reliability.
We will continue investing more in essential infrastructure than any other metro, because a growing city needs infrastructure that can keep pace with growth.
That is how we take Cape Town forward.
And that is how we continue showing that South Africa can work — for everyone.
