Outcomes of Western Cape Government Cabinet meeting

Premier Alan Winde chaired a meeting of the Western Cape Government (WCG) Cabinet on Wednesday, 18 April.

Addressing Cabinet colleagues ahead of the meeting, Premier Winde emphasised the importance of long-term and future planning for the Western Cape to better prepare the province and its residents for – among others – the increasing pressure of climate change.

“The WCG already has long-term plans in place to better manage water use through the 15-year Western Cape Integrated Water Response Plan and to make our province energy secure (the Western Cape Energy Resilience programme). But we must start looking even further into the future, by as much as 100 years. We must get long-term planning right to mitigate the impact of severe weather events, like the intense cut-off low that recently affected large swathes of the Western Cape. “The reality is that we are going to have more and more severe weather events – just in the last 11 months we have experienced 4 major flooding, wind and weather-related events and one of the harshest fire seasons in December and January – on Tuesday, 30 January we had 18 serious fires being managed by our disaster management staff. This is our reality and as a government and a province we must think about how we build resilience for our future in the longer term,” said Premier Winde.

Key matters discussed by Cabinet included:

Tourism

Cabinet welcomed the latest tourism data for the province. Airports Company South Africa’s latest data for Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) shows strong growth in arrivals for March 2024. International passenger arrivals increased to 142 485 during the month. This is an impressive 21.07% increase year-on-year. Domestic passenger arrivals increased to 316 351, up 10.1% year-on-year. Preliminary figures for the first 3 months of 2024 show that 466 469 international terminal passengers arrived at CTIA, supporting over 9 300 jobs across the province. Contributing to the tourism boom, was the successful cruiseliner season, which heralded a particularly special moment when Cape Town had both the Queen Mary and Queen Victoria docked. “The cruise industry brings significant economic benefits and job opportunities to this province. I know that at times the traffic congestion can frustrate us, but it just reminds us that we need to be looking at improving both public and private transport systems in Cape Town to respond to these intense periods of traffic activity. Rail has to be the backbone of rebuilding our public transport system and that is why we are doing everything we can to support getting the central line back up and running. However as part of our future planning, we have to get more autonomy as the province to manage our own public transport system,” said Premier Winde.

Tafelberg site Supreme Court of Appeal judgment

Cabinet noted and welcomed the recent judgment handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal in the Tafelberg site matter. The ruling confirmed that the processes followed by the WCG were lawful and correct. The Premier has urged NPOs Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim The City to work with the provincial government and the City of Cape Town in addressing housing challenges. He added, “We remain committed to achieving dignified spatial redress by working together. Constructive engagement is in the best interest of all of us. We want to see well-located social housing across our province and this requires all of us working together to achieve this. With this judgment confirming that the provincial government followed the correct processes, I am looking forward to engaging with important stakeholders on how we respond to the significant challenges and opportunities we face in building integrated towns and cities.”

Visa regulation challenges

Cabinet raised concerns over the Department of Home Affairs’ new work visa regulations for skilled foreigners. The Department faced criticism over gazetting the regulations before the public consultation period had closed. The regulations have now been withdrawn. The current onerous and complex visa processes hinder the flow of much-needed skills and job opportunities. Premier Winde added that the reforms should aim to stimulate economic growth and job creation, but there are concerns about the Department’s capacity to implement them effectively.

Port of Cape Town

Cabinet noted that the Port of Cape Town (PoCT) moved off the port congestion top 30 watch list of Linerlytica, the global vessel tracking platform, improving to position 50. This from position 49 last week and 26 the previous week. Yet there are still considerable challenges. The Premier reiterated, “We must continue to closely monitor the situation at the PoCT. It is a massive economic enabler that national government and its logistics entity Transnet are not fully leveraging. I am concerned that as we are nearing the important citrus season capacity constraints at the port remain significant. A functional container terminal in the port over the next four years could translate into R5.6 billion in economic growth, and 20 000 new job opportunities.”

Lauch of new mobile WCG eCentre

Cabinet welcomed the launch of the WCG’s new mobile eCentre in George. This mobile eCentre will travel throughout the province to rural communities, bringing services closer to residents.