An exhaustive 10-month study to identify the needs that Capetonians want local government to meet has been completed.
Conducted by the City of Cape Town’s integrated development plan (IDP) team, the ”needs analysis” covered the entire metropole.
The process included extensive surveys, public and stakeholder consultation, and market analyses.
The identified needs have now been translated into strategic ideals for the city which will ultimately determine what and when delivery takes place.
Mayor Gerald Morkel said the IDP provided the council with a framework within which the city could develop its budget and deliver on its strategic pledges to the people of Cape Town.
”The new budget, which comes into effect on July 1, 2002, will show clear linkages to the priorities identified by the IDP,” Morkel said.
”This is the beginning of a new era of greater public
participation in local government which will enable us to improve our delivery to ratepayers.” he says.
According to a representative household survey among 1 200 residents, Capetonians were unanimous that crime (99%) and unemployment (98%) were top issues that needed to be addressed.
Three other aspects of the social environment were viewed as very serious. They were poverty (90%), the incidence of homelessness and street people (89%) and HIV/Aids (88%).
These and a range of other issues were probed in depth by the IDP team.
”From these community needs analyses and a grid of city-wide issues, the key development issues for Cape Town were prioritised,” the city’s director of strategy and policy, Dr Greg Munro said.
”The foremost priority is to halt the spread of HIV/Aids.”
According to Dr Munro, more than 84% of the residents
surveyed said they thought crime, unemployment, homelessness, poverty and HIV/Aids were getting worse. These were the areas where respondents wanted to see improvement.
Figures confirmed that the average unemployment rate for the city was 20%, Munro said. – Sapa