Local government has ”an extremely limited role” in addressing key needs in Cape Town such as jobs, housing and security, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday at the launch of the city’s draft integrated development plan (IDP) at the civic centre.
Zille said the public needs to better understand the limits of local government’s mandate and the division of responsibilities with provincial and national government.
Unless this happens, public participation in the IDP is like ”a school-uniform store asking a group of children what they would like for Christmas”, Zille said.
”The children say we want Barbies, we want PlayStations, we want a whole range of things, and the school uniform store says, ‘Sorry, we do socks and ties and blazers and badges’.”
Zille said local government’s main responsibility is providing basic services, and its main goal is infrastructure-led economic growth to promote job creation.
To make the city what she called a friendly investment destination, Zille issued a personal invitation to business people that, if they ”find they are blocked by unreasonable delays and passing the buck, they may come straight to me and I will cut through it if it is unreasonable”.
When it comes to housing, the city hopes to provide the necessary service infrastructure such as access to roads, water, electricity, sewerage and waste disposal.
Zille said while the city can do ”actually quite little” about crime, she is ”a great believer in the broken-window syndrome” and that by addressing pervasive public nuisances and traffic violations, ”we’ll go a significant way to creating a safer city”.
The IDP outlines the budget priorities of the city over the next five years. It commits to ensure that, by 2012, 13 000 jobs per year are created by business and industry; basic sanitation and water are provided to all; and the city works with provincial government to provide 12 000 new housing opportunities.
The IDP is open for public comment until May 10. — Sapa