Official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon has taken the New National Party Western Cape premier to task for pledging that he would open a new airport near Atlantis in the Western Cape.
Referring to remarks made last week by the premier, Leon on Thursday — on a visit to the sprawling and poverty stricken coloured township as part of his party’s election campaign — said: “Marthinus van Schalkwyk came here the other day and said he would open a new airport. That is the kind of behaviour that gives politicians a bad name.
“There is no way that Van Schalkwyk can deliver a new airport in Atlantis. He knows very well that the international airport in Cape Town is being expanded. He is not telling the truth to the people of this community. And what good is an airport when the people of Atlantis cannot even get to Cape Town by train?
“When it comes to the problem of unemployment in manufacturing, Van Schalkwyk simply washes his hands of the problem. He doesn’t have any real solutions.
“The African National Congress’s policies are an even bigger disaster. The ANC has no plan for creating real jobs in Atlantis or in the Western Cape. All it offers are public works programmes with ‘job opportunities’ that will last only a few months and then disappear.”
Leon, whose party co-governed the province until 2001 when the New National Party was part of the Democratic Alliance, said the ANC-NNP government “is applying an affirmative action policy in the South African Police Service that will spell disaster for Atlantis and the entire Western Cape”.
“The Solidarity Trade Union gave me a document yesterday concerning the SAPS and their Employment Equity Report. This document proves what I have maintained since the beginning of this election campaign: that sometimes brown or coloured people are counted in when it comes to employment equity and affirmative action, but more times than not they are counted out.
“Instead of including coloureds together with Africans as previously disadvantaged, according to the definitions in the Employment Equity Act, the SAPS splits police officers along apartheid lines into categories of Coloured men/women, African men/women, Indian men/women and white men/women.
“Furthermore, in its recruitment targets for 2003/2004 in the Western Cape, there is a zero next to the category of coloured men and coloured women in all areas — Southern Cape, West Metropole, East Metropole, Boland, and provincial head office.
“In other words, the police will not hire any new coloured police officers, male or female, in the Western Cape. Every other group gets an allocation, but in respect of coloureds there is a complete barrier to new recruitment — not on the grounds of merit or ability, but purely on the basis of race categorisation.”
Instead the DA had a “three-point plan” for change, he said. The first was to invest in transport infrastructure.
“Atlantis is not very far from Cape Town. But the lack of proper transport has left the people of Atlantis in isolation. A taxi ride to Cape Town costs at least R14 each way. That means that a person who is trying to find a job will have to spend between R140 and R196 every week on transport-and perhaps even more — without having any source of income.
“The DA’s manifesto proposes that pensioners and those who are registered as unemployed should be allowed to travel free on subsidised public transport during off-peak hours. That will allow thousands of workers in Atlantis and the surrounding areas to seek work without having to pay hundreds of rands a week to do so.”
Second the DA would develop export processing zones to create labour-intensive jobs.
“The path to economic growth and job creation in Atlantis must involve creating special conditions that will encourage businesses and factories to move to the area. But instead of using the failed protectionist policies of the past, we must use a free-trade approach that can succeed in the era of the globalised economy.
“The DA has proposed that South Africa create Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in Atlantis and similar areas. In these areas, labour-intensive businesses will be able to operate free from many of the taxes and regulations that they normally face. Through partnerships between government and industry, EPZs will be able to create thousands and thousands of new jobs.”
In addition a city improvement district which would create new development — and bolstered by more police — was required. “Atlantis does not have many of the basic amenities that people take for granted in other parts of South Africa. There is no real commercial district, no large shopping complexes, and very little in the way of entertainment. In addition, the lack of effective policing in Atlantis has allowed crime to spin out of control.”
“The DA will create city improvement districts in urban areas such as Atlantis. These city improvement districts will attract new development by creating enterprise zones that offer tax rebates, reduced service charges and subsidised infrastructure development to new investors.” – I-Net Bridge
Special Report: Elections 2004