SONA a missed chance to restore hope on policing and rail
10 February 2023
‘We were glad to host the President at City Hall yesterday evening, but he seems to have not realised he was speaking in a City where passenger rail has collapsed, and is now servicing just 2% of Capetonians daily when it should be the backbone of an affordable, reliable, and safe transport system. We had hoped to hear of the fast-tracked devolution of passenger rail to cities so that we can get Cape Town’s once-strong train service running again together with the private sector.
‘It also seems lost on the President that he was being hosted in a City where police are majorly under-resourced while gang, gun and drug crime rages on with innocent people, including children, caught in the cross-fire. Yet conviction rates for gang crime are in the lower single digits.
‘All the President said was that SAPS continues with its routine annual national recruitment. There was no news of a special deployment of policing resources to our region, where 71% of police stations are under-resourced. And crucially, the President said nothing about devolving more policing powers to well-trained municipal law enforcement officers to help SAPS fight crime. Our officers are already out there taking guns and drugs off the streets daily, but with more policing powers they can build prosection-ready case dockets and gain convictions to bring lasting change in high-crime areas,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The Mayor said he had again written to National Ministers this week regarding the devolution of powers.
‘My office is writing to the Ministers of Police, Justice, Transport and the President on a systematic ongoing basis about devolving policing and rail in our ongoing attempts to engage on these issues meaningfully via constructive intergovernmental relations. We believe there is both a constitutional case and a human case to devolve these powers to local government. Making these changes is about people, not politics. We believe these simple, immediate measures on policing and rail can make a massive, positive impact in the daily lives of citizens,’ said Mayor-Hill-Lewis.
Energy incentives for households welcome
‘What we were hoping for, on the Energy announcement, was a detailed plan to assist households and businesses install their own rooftop solar systems through subsidies and other incentives. And indeed, the president did raise the subject of a tax incentive as well as adjustments to government’s bounce-back loan scheme to allow for solar equipment loans, and for banks to borrow from the scheme in order to help facilitate the leasing of solar panels. This is certainly a step in the right direction, and I cautiously welcome the announcement, pending the full details which, we are told, will be divulged by the Finance Minister in his Budget Speech,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
The Mayor said the City was sceptical about the prospects of a national state of disaster solving the energy crisis.
‘President Ramaphosa announced a state of disaster but as always, the real detail will be in the regulations, once published. Cape Town’s 3-phase procurement for load-shedding protection is already far advanced. What remains are the technical and financial viability preparations to connect independent power to Cape Town’s grid. It is unclear how a disaster would enhance this technical process for independent energy projects nationally. An Electricity Minister also seems to just introduce more complexity and confusion in the political governance of the crisis,’ said the Mayor.
Issued by Lyndon Khan, Mayoral Media Officer, 10 February 2023
