DA leader John Steenhuisen says the City of Cape Town will have to ensure its infrastructure has the capacity to deal with a big influx of people over the next five years.
Speaking during a walk-about in Milnerton on Sunday, aimed at encouraging people to register to vote in the upcoming local government election, he said there was a lot of pressure on the existing system.
“There are a lot of informal settlements springing up, and obviously that puts a lot of pressure on the infrastructure; lots of stuff thrown into stormwater drains, and sewerage infrastructure that is failing because it can't deal with the pressure.
“It was never designed to deal with [such] a number of people,” he said.
Steenhuisen said the city would need to up its game over the next few years to ensure its infrastructure was adequate. This was something his party’s mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis was passionate about.
“We have to put a lot of focus to make sure that the infrastructure has the capacity to deal with the fact that people come to the Western Cape in big numbers.
“It is always better where the DA is, and it’s natural that people would tend to gravitate towards governments that deliver and where there are employment opportunities; and unfortunately it also comes with the fact that it puts pressure on your systems,” he said.
“The city is going to have to really up its game in the next five years to roll out infrastructure. That is why our electioneering slogan is ‘Cape Town works’, but let us do more because there is lot more we can do to turn it into a real world class city,” Steenhuisen said.
Meanwhile, GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille said people should use their vote to replace those councillors they are not happy with.
“If people are unhappy and they want them out, the only way out is to vote them out. To enable you to vote, you must register instead of sitting at home,” De Lille said.
She also saw a need for more voter education for South Africans.
“We must teach why it is important to vote so that people can know the value of their vote.”
De Lille said all over the City of Cape Town, people were unhappy with high water and electricity bills.
“We say municipalities and metros make profit out of our communities because they make a price mark on the price of electricity and water. We say that profiteering must stop,” she said.
“If we get in... we will push to drop the mark-up on electricity and water so that Capetonians can afford water and electricity again,” she added.
De Lille said it was important that people registered to vote in the upcoming elections and not stay away.
“Please, whatever you vote for, you must never keep your vote away from any political party. That is why we say as GOOD, please lend us your vote for five years and if we don’t perform after five years, then you take your vote away,” she said.
Political Bureau