By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
The leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced on Saturday that he intends to have a second term as Mayor of Cape Town, as he expressed that there is still more work to be done for the city.
At the Hanover Civic Centre, the DA leader had outlined five campaign priorities which included; strengthening policing, job creation, affordable and efficient basic services, affordable housing and cleaner public facilities.
“Today, we begin the next chapter in the story of this city we love,” said Hill-Lewis. Currently the city of Cape Town is governed by the DA and will expect to go full force in their campaign in the metro.
There is an expectation from the opposition parties to lead towards meeting the needs of the working class and aim to combat challenges regarding gang-violence, spatial inequality and housing back-logs. When addressing the community members of Hanover park he expressed that the main priority of the DA will be to provide safety.
“We refuse to accept that crime is just part of life,” said Hill-Lewis. He also highlighted that the city would be calling for stronger enforcement of policing powers and also intend to build their own policing capacity in the form of a Metro Police Detective Unit.
“An arrest means little if the case collapses. A confiscated gun means little if the criminal is back on the street” said Hill-Lewis.
Hill-Lewis also highlighted that Cape Town has recorded 480,000 new jobs over the span of his term in mayoral office and made comparisons to the figures shown in Johannesburg and also said that the party would work to reduce the red tape and improve the conditions for business as well as investment.
Another key point that was highlighted by Hill-Lewis was the aim of solving the issue of clean water, sanitation and electricity and has mentioned that the dependency on Eskom will be minimal.
He intends on working with independent producers of electricity and also replacing 100km of Fresh Water pipes and 100km of sewer pipes annually.
Meanwhile ActionSA MP, Dereleen James, has also announced that she will be throwing her hat in the ring for mayoral candidate of Cape Town less than a kilometre away from where DA held their announcement. She focused her address on combatting crime and providing opportunities for economic inclusion.
In her address she had made acknowledgements to ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba for the recommendation and to her mother for inspiring this decision.
“This woman standing here, before you today. I hail from a community of Eldorado Park. The very thing that I thought would destroy me, where I couldn’t go to work anymore, where I couldn’t attend family functions anymore because they would say ‘wat soek jy hier, jou kind is op drugs’, where I couldn’t attend meetings and the community would point fingers ‘is weer jou kind,” she said in her address as she lamented on her son’s struggles with drug addiction and how her community shunned her for it.
She also accused the DA for neglecting coloured communities and has expressed that there are many communities that are excluded from economic opportunities and quality service delivery.
“You cannot even grow vegetables in your yard because you have been set up for failure, and it was intentional. Today they tell you that you cannot have a tuckshop because of by-laws.” said James.