Cllr Cilliers Brink has been elected as the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH  BY EXECUTIVE MAYOR CILLIERS BRINK

LET’S BUILD A CAPITAL CITY THAT WORKS FOR ALL OF ITS PEOPLE
Councillors, thank you for the confidence you’ve expressed in me to serve as the Executive Mayor of our capital city. Nothing that has happened in our city’s politics, or in this council chamber, in the past three weeks can take away the honour of serving the people of Tshwane through this office.

I know that I am not here on my own behalf, nor even on the behalf of a single political party, but as the leader of a coalition. The partners in this coalition may have many differences such as in their policies or priorities. But what binds us together is stronger than what sets us apart.

The people of South Africa, and of our capital city, share a common interest and common aspirations for the future. It is this unity of purpose that our coalition represents. Each of us, no matter race, language, political affiliation, or where we live, want to build a capital city that works, a capital city that is:
• Clean, effective, corruption free administration.
• Secures a continuous and reliable supply of basic services.
• Provides value for the money that residents pay in tariffs, charges, and taxes.

We want to build a capital city that works for all of its people, one that improves the lives of the poor, and creates opportunities for all people to move up in life. We know in our hearts that this city will only be a good place for any of us to live in, if we work to make it a good place for all of us to live in.

A city that works, and one where no one is left behind, aren’t two separate cities. These aren’t goals at cross-purposes. These are the goals that must unite us. Only a city that works can deliver to all of its people, and only a city that delivers to all of its people can hope to be sustained over time.

We can see what good governance, honesty and transparency can do in the Western Cape and we can draw inspiration from their successes. We want to do that here, where we live. We want to learn from what has been achieved there, adapt that knowledge, and build a capable state in the north of the country as a strong coalition.

But this vision is only possible if in the next few months Tshwane can avoid the fate of so many other municipalities in our country. We have to get control of Tshwane’s finances, and bring our spending in line with what the city can realistically hope to collect.

This is as important a task as responding to the concerns of the auditor-general, and restoring the financial controls that have systematically been broken down or have never existed. In the past three years a number of factors have combined to have a devastating effect on the city’s financial position, and the path of recovery on which we had embarked in the last decade.

• Excessive salary increases negotiated outside of collective bargaining, and out of proportion to what has been granted in metros of similar size and means;
• The Covid-19 lockdown, prolonged by national government long beyond the justification of scientific and economic evidence;
• The unlawful intervention by the Gauteng provincial government for seven disastrous months during the lockdown and the R4 billion deficit they left behind;
• And of course, permanent loadshedding, destroying our electricity infrastructure, driving vandalism and theft, reducing revenue, and encouraging residents to stop buying their electricity from the municipality.

There has been zero compensation or support given to the local government sector to help us through the seismic changes brought about by loadshedding and the collapse of Eskom.To restore the balance between incomes and expenditures, Tshwane will have to make difficult decisions that we no longer have the luxury to avoid.

We have to focus on the core mandate of local government, and find affordable means to serve that mandate. We have to reduce our dependence on Eskom, and find alternative means of supplying electricity to residents, so that we can continue to cross-subsidize other services.

If we do not make bold and innovative changes, if all municipalities outside of the Western Cape don’t explore such changes, then the local government as we know it will simply not be able to deliver on its constitutional mandate.

In embarking upon these changes, we have to remind ourselves why local government and this municipality exists. We do not exist for councillors, political parties, municipal employees, trade unions, or any other special interest group.

A municipality exists for the benefit of its residents, its local community, and generations to come. Whatever changes we make, basic services delivered by this city cannot be compromised. If we do that, we will simply deepen the deficit of trust and the deficit of money that we currently suffer.

What has happened in our politics, and in this council chamber, in the past three weeks has been deeply unfortunate, and I do hope we’ve reached a turning point. The people of Tshwane look to us to resolve our differences in an orderly way that avoids violence and hatred, and that does not disrupt the functioning
of government.

No matter how low the levels of debate have sunk in this council, it can never be accepted for anyone in this council to be threated and assaulted. If elected representatives behave in this way, it destroys the trust that ordinary people have in the system of democracy and the constitution which we have all sworn
to uphold.

I therefore want to extend a hand of cooperation to all of the political parties in this country, but especially those in the opposition. The democracy that I believe in is not one where one person or one party has a monopoly on truth, or enjoys an existential right to hold office.

I have sat in the opposition benches before, and I know the difference between a mayor who respects the opposition and debate, and one who treats all politics as if it were war.

There will be time for battle, but there also has to be time for serious deliberation, for earnest debate, for empathy, and for cooperation. Each of us, no matter how politically warm-blooded we are, must love our city and our country more than we dislike each other.

That’s what the constitution and the people of Tshwane expect of us. And so, I reach out to the opposition parties in the council, the councillors who did not vote for me. Let’s have our differences aside, and let us restore the kind of debate what we had between government and opposition in Pretoria and Tshwane in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Let’s try to find each other on items that are of common interest to all of our constituents, including on the budget and other resolutions that have to be taken by this council. Let’s build a capital city that works for all its people, and let’s restore the hope that so many people have lost for the future of our country.

Cilliers Brink
City of Tshwane Executive Mayor