Page 16 - SA Chamber UK JUNE - Newsletter-2024
P. 16

EDITORIAL
            CAPE TOWN COULD SHOW



            THE WAY





             - By John Battersby


            Cape Town could become a template for reversing poverty, creating jobs and reviving
            ailing service delivery throughout the country, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis told the SA
            Chamber UK.

            Hill-Lewis was speaking to the SA Chamber UK at a lunchtime meeting at the law firm
            Simmons & Simmons LLP in the City of London during a visit to the US and UK to
            share his vision for the Mother City.

            On the same day, January 23, he also delivered a lecture at the London School of
            Economics entitled: City of Hope – Lessons from Cape Town for the future of South
            Africa and African cities.

            Hill-Lewis shared his vision with the Chamber to create a governance model in Cape
            Town which would have as its central objective improving the quality of life for those
            living in poverty and the unemployed. “That is the very point of government and of
            politics,” he said.

                                                                “I  define  politics  as  the  attainment  of
                                                                government power for the achieving
                                                                social  progress,”  he  said  in  the  LSE
                                                                lecture.

                                                                Hill-Lewis’ strategy in managing the City
                                                                of Cape Town has already paid huge
                                                                dividends.

                                                                Cape Town had a record tourist season
                                                                in 2023 with 317 000 visitors.

                                                                The City has significantly reduced the
                                                                frequency of rolling blackouts due to
                                                                the energy crisis by promoting solar
                                                                energy and other renewables; by
                                                                buying in excess power from private
                                                                power producers; and it has a plan to
                                                                launch  a  voluntary  incentive  program
                                                                to reduce consumption.

                                                                Crime rates have  been cut by a highly-
                                                                trained metropolitan police force of 3500
            Mayor  Geordin  Hill-Lewis of  Cape  Town  and SACC
            member Jaco Botha, Sable International              with sharpened  investigative  powers to


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                                                             SA CHAMBER UK NEWSLETTER JUNE 2024
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