by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis
In a recent letter, Mr Yusuf Henriksen expresses disappointment with two aspects of Cape Town that don’t accord with his fond memories of the city (“Mother City appealing? No it’s appalling!”, Cape Argus 22 April).
Firstly, the unlawful occupation outside the Castle of Good Hope in the CBD is certainly a shared point of concern.
For context: the National Government owns the large portion of land directly adjacent to the Castle and the Moat, with the legal responsibility for evicting illegal occupiers lying with the Department of Public Works.
We have received a commitment from the Department that it is acting to resolve the occupation, and will approach the courts if needs be. The City has further offered to assist with social development referrals for those unlawful occupants willing to accept help to get off the streets.
Homelessness is a major global issue, including for South Africa’s cities.
The City is determined to help more people off the streets by expanding City-run Safe Space shelters to the tune of R230 million over three years while supporting NGOs to add more bed spaces at night shelters.
The City is also approaching the courts in cases where all offers of support are indefinitely refused.
The Western Cape High Court recently granted the City’s application for eviction notices to be served at various unlawful occupations in the CBD.
Notices include the Buitengracht Street, FW De Klerk Boulevard, Foregate Square, Taxi Rank and Foreshore, Helen Suzman Boulevard, Strand Street, Foreshore / N1, Virginia Avenue and Mill Street Bridge in the city.
No person has the right to reserve a public space as exclusively theirs while indefinitely refusing all offers of shelter and social assistance.
Our city’s public places serve important social and community purposes and must be open and available for all. Illegal occupations of City open spaces impact the safety of traffic and pedestrians as well as local businesses critical to growing the economy. Accepting social assistance to get off the streets is the best choice for dignity, health, and well-being.
Mr Yusuf’s second point of concern is around safety on Table Mountain. Many thousands of people from around the world continue to enjoy this tourism crown jewel each day, and the vast majority do so safely.
However, one mugging or assault is one too many. The City continues to offer its support and resources to SANParks to ensure greater safety on the mountain. We are also making major investments to make Cape Town safer, including R860m in safety technology over three years, such as CCTV, drones, and aerial surveillance.
We also recently deployed 100 additional law enforcement officers to Cape Town’s CBD to assist with safety for tourists and locals alike.
Cape Town is not immune to pressures of crime and poverty that are faced all over South Africa and in most developing world contexts around the globe.
The difference between Cape Town and many of those other South African cities is that we are steadily working on improving and resolving these challenges.
* Geordin Hill-Lewis is the Mayor of Cape Town.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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