2016 State of the City address – “Bringing our glorious nation together within the boundaries of a single Capital.”

City of Tshwane, Freedom Park, 21 April 2016: The cool, cloudy conditions did not deter Tshwane’s Executive Mayor, Councillor Kgosientso Ramokgopa from delivering his final State of the City Address to the hundreds of invited guests.  

Kicking off, the Mayor identified the relocation of the legislative seat of the state to Tshwane, with Fort Klapperkop being identified as the most suitable site.

He had more good news to share; the City of Tshwane’s estimated economic growth rate is at 2.4 percent, considerably higher than the national average economic of 0.6 percent. This has enabled Tshwane to contribute at least 27 percent to Gauteng’s economy and over 9 percent to the national economy annually. Unemployment is approximately 21.2 percent, also lower than the national average, while the city-specific inflation figure is on par with that of the national average.

Based on the Better Life Index, Tshwane is the quickest improving metro in South Africa, with the highest growth rate in the index value over the period 2011 to 2015, implying that Tshwane is rapidly becoming the best place to live in South Africa!

Many projects the City embarked on, some at the beginning of 2011 have made a significant and substantial impact on the economy, skills development, creation of jobs, education, trade and investment, the creation of an innovative society, sustainability, social cohesion, and the creation of a safe and secure Capital.

One of the City’s flagship projects, TshWIFI is seen as a platform to improve the lives of those exposed to the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. It enables affordable Internet access across the city. Users each have free access to 500 megabytes daily from the 776 TshWi-Fi zones, making it the largest Wi-Fi network on the African continent.

The Capital has seen tremendous growth in the number of building plans approved, R81 billion during the current term of office for the period 2011 to 2015.

The role of the automotive industry is notable, as the transport industry, accounts for approximately 12 percent of Tshwane’s economy or R28.9 billion, growing at an average of 3.9 percent per annum.

A big focus is on developing the City’s youth.  With the Tshepo 10,000 programme, 508 jobs were created through technical opportunities to co-operative enterprises and 993 individual employment opportunities. Identifying knowledge production and innovation as crucial ingredients of economic activity in the 21^st century, innovation based youth programmes such as eKasiLAB, The Youth FabLab programme and the Tshwane Innovation Zone have all been successfully launched in the City.

In just three years, 62 townships has been developed and 13 townships proclaimed through the Re aga Tshwane programme, impacting in excess of 20,000 families per annumn, and relocating approximately 11,202 families from unsuitable living conditions to better permanent housing.

Over R676 million has also been spent on township regeneration projects with the Tsosoloso township renewal programme.

The ultimate goal for the City is to have an integrated multi-modal transport service offering that includes complementary elements such as a bus rapid transit system, light-rail tram, high-speed rail networks, similar to the Gautrain and non-motorised transport, giving effect to eco-mobility and connectivity whilst continuing to do the basics. BRT a public transport facility ensures increased levels of efficiency, while A Re Yeng integrates the rail network at five key railway stations.

The City is concentrating on reducing its carbon footprint; the Kwaggasrand multipurpose waste facility just one example that diverts waste from landfill sites.

Enshrined within the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is the provision of access to water. The City will ensure that it endeavours to maintain, if not improve, its current Blue and Green Drop scores.

The City continues to invest a significant amount of resources on its bulk electricity infrastructure programme to provide new capacity to meet the City’s sustainable inclusive growth plan aligned to Tshwane Vision 2055.

In order to ensure a safe and liveable City, as articulated within Tshwane Vision 2055, the roll-out of public lighting infrastructure has increased the  level of visibility for pedestrians, motorists and the community through the installation of  total of 11 807 new streetlights and 260 new high masts lights from 2011 to date.

Vast progress has been made with electrification of Tshwane households; in 2011, 79.2 percent of Tshwane residents had access to electricity and by 2015, it is marginally below 90 percent.

The City is committed to enhancing the wellbeing of its residents, 98 percent of Tshwane residents have access to primary healthcare services, with R152.9 million spent in the current term on expanding primary healthcare.

Childhood development has been prioritised by the City of Tshwane and has as one of the interventions in breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty and illiteracy amongst families and communities. More than 4,000 children annually benefit from this programme.

To ensure a safer Capital, emergency services teams have reduced the number of fires and rescues by more than five percent and in the current term of office, over 50,000 fires have been responded to. The emergency call and dispatch centre received over 1.9 million emergency calls over the past five years, with a response time of between five and ten minutes within urban areas. By end of 2014, more than 3,900 metro police officers had been deployed on “local level policing,” ensuring a greater operational presence on the ground.

In January 2015, the City launched the Digital Imbizo series and has reached and engaged approximately 500,000 people, with more than 15 million impressions and an average of 600 quality inputs received per engagement.  

With the promotion of good governance and efficient use of resources, the City received unqualified audits during the current term of office. It has also maintained its credit rating at investment grade by Moody’s Investor Services for the 2013/14

To ensure minimal levels of disruption to service delivery, the City has implemented a strike management policy that includes contingency plans in instances of mass actions and unprotected strikes.

The City has developed strong partnerships with the BRIC cities and it will continue to build bridges of co-operation on the continent to support South Africa’s regional developmental agenda.

Into the Future

The City’s implementation plan and growth strategy aims to accelerate economic transformation, prioritising three sectors:

• The education sector – has the potential to contribute an additional R37 billion in 2030 to Tshwane’s Gross Value Add, also known as GVA, and create an additional 160,000 jobs;
• The agri-business sector can contribute to an additional R24 billion in 2030 to
• Tshwane’s GVA, and create an additional 120,000 jobs;
• The tourism sector, which has the potential to contribute an additional R28

billion in 2030 to Tshwane’s GVA, and create an additional 70,000 jobs.

The motor manufacturers’ dedication to furthering business is evident. The BMW Group announced it will invest a total of R6 billion at its Rosslyn Plant. Nissan South Africa will increase production of its new model bakkie at its Rosslyn and the Ford Motor Company will invest R2.5 billion in its Silverton plant to commence production of the Everest SUV, which is envisaged to create an additional 1,200 jobs.

Power and water are critical to propel the Capital into the future, yet studies indicate that by 2025, South Africa will in all probability experience near physical water shortages. The McKinsey Global Institute indicates that once the Medupi and Kusile power stations come online, another power gap will emerge in the country by 2025. To respond to this, the City’s power stations once refurbished have the potential to generate almost one gig watt of power.

The National Department of Water and Sanitation is supporting all identified initiatives to reduce dependencies on the Vaal River system, such as that of water conservation and the re-use and optimization of local water sources.

Since May 2015, the City has implemented Operation Kuka Maoto that operates by activating, mobilising, and organising existing capacity to promote the optimal use of resources and is the highest point of escalation and intervention on service delivery related issues within the Capital.

An e-procurement system is being implemented in the City that will result in substantially mitigating the influence of human beings in procurement selection processes. It is expected to go live by the 19^th of May 2016.

The Executive Mayor ended this address with this commitment to the citizens of Tshwane “We remain ready, able and willing to continue serving our people honestly, excellently, meticulously and judiciously!”