The reason he put his name in the hat for the position of mayor of Cape Town was because he is the father of a young child and is anxious about the future of the country, says Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Hill-Lewis spoke to a group of paying guests at an event held at the Cattle Baron in the Tyger Waterfront last week.
The event was organised by local ward councillors Ronel Viljoen and Hendri Terblanche and money raised will be used for upliftment work by the councillors.
Hill-Lewis said most people are worried about crime, loadshedding and an economy that will give opportunities to their children.
These are some of the things they focus on, he said.
“Frankly, it’s a joke to talk about economic growth without supplying consistent energy.”
He has a bit of an obsession with ending loadshedding in the country, he told the audience, and the process to get independent generation and supply of energy is well on its way.
Loadshedding is preventing economic growth countrywide. “If we don’t address that, then we can continue to build an island of excellence, but it’s not sustainable.”
When it comes to crime, the City has invested millions in bettering crime prevention technology. This includes using drones, a pilot project which will launch in July. This will provide “wall-to-wall coverage” and give them the “real upperhand”, he said.
He praised volunteers and Friends groups for going the extra mile in supporting City structures, be it a library, park, school or university.
Hill-Lewis reiterated the fact that the City’s basic amenities are under severe pressure as they see people from other provinces and countries stream towards it.
One in four people are buying a house in Cape Town at the moment, he said, and they don’t see this trend stopping any time soon.
“We’re currently running in the property investment space just to keep up.”
He didn’t, however, address how the pressure on basic amenities will be lifted or how the densification is expected to impact ordinary citizens.
When asked about street people, Hill-Lewis said the City has a strong culture of human rights activism and if they remove one person, they would be taken to court immediately (because of pending cases in Cape Town, street people cannot be moved as in the past).
He said it was his opinion that the City was the most accepting City toward the homeless in the country, as they funded numerous programmes and spaces for these people.
