Cape Town - The ANC is proposing radical changes to the way Cape Town operates should it win control of the city council in this year’s local government elections.
These include low cost housing developments in Constantia, Claremont and Rondebosch and moving MyCiTi buses from the West Coast to Milnerton route, to expand services on the Cape Flats.
Tony Ehrenreich, ANC leader in the city council, told a press conference on Wednesday that under an ANC-led city council, traditionally “white, wealthy” suburbs would be “second in the queue” when it comes to service provision.
Informal settlements and backyarders would enjoy priority under an ANC administration.
The city’s administration would also be purged of its senior white officials.
“They must be moved out of their positions to more accurately reflect the demographic profile,” he said.
Ehrenreich said there was a prevailing “sense of whiteness” in the city council, and that the city council’s spending figures did not accurately reflect the true nature of the expenditure.
His caucus maintained that more money is being spent on basic services, public lighting and infrastructure development in developed areas than in poor areas.
“There are huge inequality gaps and we must move public spending,” said Ehrenreich, the ANC’s mayoral candidate in 2011.
The ANC is yet to decide on its candidate to challenge incumbent Patricia de Lille who is seeking a second term.
The ANC’s city caucus has slammed De Lille’s administration for not adequately addressing inequalities in the city.
It wants the city to build up to 20 000 houses a year and expand the MyCiTi network in disadvantaged areas.
Councillor Belinda Landingwe said the city council was wasting money on temporary relocation areas, which are not a solution to housing the more than 300 000 people on the city’s waiting list.
She claimed that city officials were withholding details of a land audit from the ANC, but once in power, the party would ensure these vacant areas were developed to bring poor people closer to the city.
On Thursday the city council will hold its first meeting of the year, and the ANC caucus is promising to act if DA councillor Sam Pienaar, who is accused of having links to the Trojan Horse massacre, is allowed to set foot in the chamber.
They said De Lille was not being truthful about her knowledge of Pienaar’s history.
De Lille said on Monday that Pienaar had not disclosed this part of his history to the DA as per its requirements.
Under an ANC-led city administration, an authority to arrest people involved in racist attacks would be established, said Ehrenreich.
“The city council’s anti-racism efforts will be more than a paper campaign,” he said, in reference to the city council’s “Don’t let racists speak for you” campaign.
Cape Argus