Cape Town - Outgoing mayor Patricia de Lille addressed the launch of the City of Cape Town’s first preliminary resilience assessment in Woodstock on Friday morning.
Addressing a network of local and international City partners, De Lille cited a number of "acute shocks and stresses" currently affecting local government's ability to build a "Resilient Cape Town."
These included traffic gridlocks, buying electricity from Eskom and the subsequent court fallout with the Department of Energy, and apartheid spatial planning, among others.
"We are not yet truly resilient. I can see Cape Town emerge from the drought... But we're not there yet," De Lille said.
De Lille: Capetonians must work together, as they did against the drought, to fight "shocks & stresses" facing them. She describes the Preliminary Resilience Assessment as a "discussion document"; she adds it's not in place to replace other strategic plans. @WeekendArgus @IOL pic.twitter.com/aWfjO52pMO
— Soyiso Maliti (@soyiso_maliti) September 21, 2018
Chief resilience Officer Craig Kesson also referred to future acute shocks which could affect resilience, such as cyber-attacks.
According to Kesson, data for the assessment was gathered from over 11 000 residents, while more than 100 experts were consulted.
Craig Kesson, Chief Resilience Officer, takes us through the data. He says while CT metropolis has the lowest unemployment rates compared to other metros, it had around half-a-million residents who were looking for jobs. @iol @WeekendArgus #100ResilientCities pic.twitter.com/zSr42dbwAc
— Soyiso Maliti (@soyiso_maliti) September 21, 2018
According to the City, there is a transformational agenda to create "an inclusive, caring, safe and opportunity city that takes its place among great cities of the world".
They added that they are working with partners in the network of cities called 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) and the Rockefeller Foundation in order to develop Cape Town's first Resilience Strategy.