GOOD Speech by Sarah Mabotsa, GOOD City of Tshwane Councillor and Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for Economic Development and Spatial Planning:
GOOD is committed to achieving greater social, economic, environmental, and spatial justice in South African cities. The State of the Capital Address (SOCA) demonstrated how Tshwane’s multi-party coalition government is delivring justice for Tshwane’s residents.
Three years ago, the Auditor General determined that Tshwane was no longer a concern, as its debts outweighed assets. But now we can see the effects of a good government. Today, Tshwane has been operating under a fully funded budget for many years, with cash flow reserves having increased from just 17 days last year to 25 days.
- Almost one third of the R6,67 billion Eskom debt left by the previous administration has now been paid off.
- More than 20,000 residents have also come forward to regularise their municipal accounts. This reflects the support of our residents who pay what is due. The money owed by residents to the City on our debtors’ book has been reduced by more than 13%.
- Debts to more than 85,000 indigent households have also been scrapped, halting the cruel process of trying to recover small debts from the city’s poorest households.
- The City is also cutting costs on contracted water tanker services by almost 80% and reducing contracted security services by almost one-fifth in the coming year.
These substantial savings are reinvested into infrastructure maintenance and in boosting internal capacity, enabling us to deliver more at a lower cost with our own team.
The numbers on service delivery are also clear: Tens of kilometres of water pipes have been replaced, – Hundreds of kilometres of roads resurfaced, – Thousands of potholes have been repaired, and – Substations have been upgraded to improve the electricity supply, with electricity for key economic nodes like Rosslyn prioritised to protect jobs and enable faster economic growth.
The turnaround in the City’s fortunes is most clearly demonstrated in the Tshwane Economic Development Agency’s pipeline of investment projects. A year ago, the value of verified new projects in this pipeline was just R1.4 billion. However, by the beginning of this year, the value of new projects exceeded R11 billion. This incredible testament to the confidence that the private sector has in Tshwane is humbling.
The City has also released for long lease many key properties, including the massive Pretoria Showgrounds, various industrial properties in Rosslyn and the Mamelodi Odi Stadium, for the purpose of investment and redevelopment. Releasing under-utilised or vacant buildings for investment creates jobs and helps our economy grow. It also brings businesses back to the city centre.
This year, the Tshwane Council approved the Precinct Plan for the Tshwane Fresh Produce Market area and surrounding neighbourhoods, as well as the Clydesdale Precinct Plan. These strategic plans propose thousands of new housing opportunities in the inner city and will allow more people to live closer to where they work and study. This is real delivery of spatial and economic justice.
We are humbled that international vehicle manufacturer Chery has chosen Tshwane as their new manufacturing base. Their multibillion-rand investment in Tshwane helps to secure our position as a premier vehicle manufacturing city in Africa. The automotive sector is a priority economic sector under the Tshwane Economic Revitalisation Strategy, and last year we approved the master plan for the Tshwane Automotive City in Rosslyn. Already, real investment and real jobs have been realised in this area.
This investment is not isolated to Rosslyn. ATCOM and others are also investing in Tshwane. Supporting and enabling growth in the informal sector and our township economies are also key priorities of this administration. A new bylaw that recognises the informal economy participants more widely was approved in November 2025. Importantly, this new bylaw provides for the City to preferentially allocate economic opportunities for trading and businesses to South African citizens, in line with the South African Constitution.
To ensure there are real new job opportunities for our youth in the future, we must continue planning for economic growth in different sectors. For example, on 26 March 2026, Council approved a Tourism Strategy and Masterplan for the capital city, which targets to increase domestic tourism numbers from 2,6 million to 3,2 million visitors per year and international visitors from 800,000 to 1,2 million per year by 2030.
These increased visitor numbers will add almost R10 billion in additional annual spending to the Tshwane economy and is predicted to be able to support more than 100,000 new direct and indirect tourism jobs in Tshwane. From these results, you can see that the actions taken by this administration are delivering real results, real support, and real growth and change.
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