The African National Congress’s (ANC) efforts to change Cape Town’s multiparty government is doing ”incalculable harm” to South Africa, city mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday.
”They are not damaging the multiparty government, they are doing incalculable harm to South Africa,” she said in an opening speech at a full council meeting.
She said South Africa cannot pretend to have a democracy if the ANC cannot accept the results of an election in which they lost power. This would negatively impact on international investor confidence, economic growth and development.
While Western Cape provincial minister of local government and housing Richard Dyantyi was ”struggling to find credible reasons” to justify changing Cape Town’s government, there were some in his party trying artificially to manufacture those reasons, said Zille.
”In fact, I am reliably informed that a small group is going from place to place trying to make this city ungovernable in an attempt to justify [his] move to change the balance of power …”
Dyantyi has also still not provided ”substantive formal reasons” for his proposal to change the system. The city will not be able to obtain a mandate from the council on whether to enter the formal legal process until it had these reasons.
On the city’s preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Zille said while the design and blueprints for the 68 000-seat Green Point stadium are not yet finished. The environmental impact assessment has been completed.
She said rock below the surface of the site will require building a bigger structure and raising the surrounding land surface slightly.
”This creates more costs due to the higher quantities of building materials and labour required.”
The National Treasury, in a preliminary figure, said it would contribute R1,65-billion towards the proposed stadium. Zille said the city was contributing R400-million to the project. It has not received any significant financial commitment from the provincial government.
Zille said the city’s financial situation was ”looking good”. In September the city achieved a record revenue collection of R746,2-million for rates and services alone. This was the highest in a single month since the formation of the Cape Town Unicity. The city still has rates and services arrears of R3,5-billion.
She added that the city’s legal costs had been cut by about 30%. — Sapa