100 000 Gauteng families moved to Cape Town in past 36 months – CT mayor

Ambitious Cape Town infrastructure plans and public private partnerships are essential to keeping pace with population growth and the influx of ‘semigrants’ from other provinces, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis told the Cape Chamber this week.  

Speaking at the annual City-Cape Chamber engagement at the Civic Centre, the Mayor outlined the City’s budget priorities and major projects for the coming years. These include major water and sanitation works, continued investment in safety and security, and a robust social support programme.  

Hill-Lewis said the City’s infrastructure programme far exceeds that of any other Metro, and was designed partly to ensure Cape Town avoids urban decay challenges seen elsewhere in the country. The expanded infrastructure budget was also a response to a significant growth in the number of Cape Town households, which far exceeds population growth. “What is very interesting is that we have a 3,8% household growth – it's the number that determines our infrastructure need,” the Mayor said.  

Household growth was partly due to ‘splintered families’, together with semigration and the growth of the tourist economy.  Around 100 000 families had 'semigrated' from Gauteng to Cape Town over the past 36 months, Hill-Lewis said.

Cape Town’s latest infrastructure budget would ensure the City continued to create an enabling environment for residents and business, the Mayor added. “Four or five years ago this City was already investing in infrastructure, but not at the adequate level to keep up with the pressure we face as a City.”

“If we continued down the path we were on, infrastructure would have been OK for a long time – it's not like it was close to collapse like we are seeing in other places. But the trajectory was concerning. The dashboard oil light was on. So we have accelerated significantly (infrastructure spend) to make sure the City can continue being a success for many decades to come,” Hill-Lewis said.  

Projects in the pipeline include another desalination plant (despite previous plants having been decommissioned) and a large water recycling public-private partnership, collectively aimed at avoiding another Day Zero scenario.

The Mayor also fielded multiple questions from Cape Chamber members, among them queries about property rates, planning application bottlenecks, social housing, electricity tariffs, and road congestion.  

Hill-Lewis said the City would require funding partners to tackle some of the biggest challenges, including transport. He said he was aware of a proposal to build a Cape Town Skytrain to help address ongoing congestion: “I’m aware of the Cape Skytrain, but there’s no prospect of that project proceeding without significant government funding. I would love that project to proceed, but it is above our pay grade to fund a project like that".