GOOD Speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & City of Cape Town Mayoral Candidate
07 June 2026
*Note to Editor: This speech was given during the GOOD City of Cape Town Mayoral Launch
Cape Town is an exceptional city.
Few cities in the world rival our unique combination of natural beauty… temperate climate… fertile soil… local culture… world-class wine production… restaurants… shopping…
It’s a long list.
Cape Town has always stood out in comparison to other South African cities.
In the nineteenth century, it came to be regarded as a relatively civilised enclave compared, say, to the chaotic frontier outpost of Johannesburg.
It’s also different to other South African cities because of its engineered demographic and spatial design… coupled with its geography.
In the twentieth century, a form of ethnic cleansing occurred.
People of African descent were harshly discouraged from living in the region.
And all remaining people of colour were forced to vacate the most desirable parts of the city near the mountain and the sea…
Herded out of sight…
Onto the Cape Flats.
The strength of the City’s financial administration since the advent of democracy further sets it apart.
It has consistently achieved better audit results than other South African cities…
Going all the way back to when it received its first unqualified report under the ANC’s Nomaindia Mfeketo.
This is the Cape Town that, in the twenty-first century, harvests multiple awards as one of the most desirable tourist and lifestyle investment destinations on the planet.
And for that…
The ruling party takes the credit.
But here’s the catch:
Where you live in Cape Town directly shapes every aspect of your life.
How much it costs to get to work.
Whether your home floods when it rains.
The safety of your neighbourhood.
Your children’s opportunities to develop and succeed.
The built environment on the Cape Flats — collectively referred to as the townships — is collapsing through overcrowding and neglect.
More than two million Capetonians live there.
In addition, there are more than 270,000 shacks across more than 800 informal settlements in the metro.
That is about one million people…
Living…
And raising families…
In the dirt.
The City’s population grows by roughly 120,000 new residents every year.
It has a housing backlog of 600,000 dwellings.
But delivered just 928 new subsidised homes last year.
There is no plan to address this crisis.
And here’s the second catch:
Increasing unaffordability.
A surging housing market in the suburbs and inner city that rewards speculators…
While becoming increasingly out of reach for the average family living on the Cape Flats.
A surging market that is great for revenue collection by the City…
But not so great for families whose property values have grown faster than their income…
And who are struggling to pay their rates.
What that means…
Is that the same people who were denied opportunity and forced into poverty because of the colour of their skin…
Are today denied redemption and redress…
Because they are priced out of the market.
There is no plan to address this crisis either.
The City has recently been announcing and re-announcing unfunded plans to build affordable homes.
The same plans first announced in 2018.
Yet it has still not begun building the first affordable home in the inner city.
Several thousand apartments have been privately developed in the inner city over the past twenty years.
But approximately seventy per cent are second and third properties belonging to speculators…
And are on the short-term rental market…
Priced for tourists and digital nomads.
This shape of Cape Town is not sustainable.
It leads to the kind of decision-making that prioritises spending more than R100 million on a security wall on the N2…
To separate ghettos from the freeway…
Instead of spending that money fixing the ghettos.
The shape is not organic.
It is determined by the choices and priorities of those in government…
Past and present.
Why…
When just about everyone agreed in 1994 that the apartheid spatial plan built on forced removals and dispossession was disgraceful…
Have we not dismantled it?
And why have we prioritised developing a city skewed towards profits for property developers and speculators…
A city for those who can afford it…
Rather than a city skewed towards developing a safe, dignified and thriving space for all people?
In my view…
Tackling affordability…
And detaching Cape Town from the rigidities of its apartheid spatial plan…
Are the master keys to unlocking a city that is just, thriving and sustainable.
A city where well-located land is used for homes, not property speculation.
A city with public transport that connects people to opportunity.
A city with infrastructure and environments that support dignity, not neglect.
A single Cape Town community…
Stable.
Safe.
And conducive to economic growth.
It’s achievable.
And I’d like to share with you how we believe it should be done.
First…
We must deal with the false binaries that continue to define the city and hold us hostage after more than thirty years of democracy.
Black or white.
African or coloured.
Suburbs or Cape Flats.
Rich or poor.
ANC or DA.
“Us and them” must be left in the past…
Where they come from.
Second…
We must commit ourselves to the principles of humanity.
Affording more power over municipal decision-making to communities.
And showing the fearlessness required to confront inequality.
Third…
We need a shift in consciousness.
A determination to build a city that works for all its people…
Not just those looking for another outlet to make more profit.
Let me conclude with a summary of our to-do list in November…
When we anticipate that Cape Town will be governed by a coalition government.
Position the City as a builder, not a bystander.
Establish a municipal housing developer with a mandate to build public housing at scale on well-located public land.
Adopt a formal council resolution to stop the nonsense of selling public land and public buildings.
Public land must serve the public.
Homes must be for living in…
Not for speculation.
Second homes must be taxed at a higher rate.
Property developers must contribute to inclusionary housing through the land-value-sharing principle.
The use-it-or-lose-it principle must be applied to abandoned buildings.
And short-term rentals must be regulated.
You should not be priced out of your own city.
Rent must be stabilised in high-pressure areas.
And stronger tenant protections must be implemented.
Basic services must be regarded as rights…
Not privileges.
Expand free basic water and electricity.
And introduce progressive tariffs based on income…
Not property value.
With regard to public safety, we say this:
Safety is built.
Not just enforced.
We want more resources directed towards youth development.
The Violence Prevention lens must be refocused on urban upgrading.
And because human dignity is inseparable from functioning infrastructure…
Cape Town must invest in stormwater, sanitation and roads in places like Dunoon, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain.
There should be no densification projects…
Anywhere…
Without infrastructure upgrades.
Inequality on the scale we have in Cape Town is not benign.
It is not an irritating injustice that can be tolerated indefinitely.
It is not a problem that simply calls for charity.
And it will not miraculously cure itself.
It is a cancer.
A cancer that reinforces old divisions.
That corrodes cohesion.
That corrodes self-worth.
And when discontent reaches its tipping point…
It threatens stability.
It threatens economic growth.
But inequality is not untreatable.
And it is a false assumption that investing in better environments for poorer communities means poorer services…
Or lower property values…
In affluent areas.
When we factor the development of a just and resilient city into our day-to-day decision-making…
We build common purpose.
And a bigger picture emerges.
Across the country, we see citizens being mobilised to vote on the basis of identity.
Ethnicity.
Colour.
Culture.
Class.
This directly threatens the foundations of a multicultural, non-racial society.
Cape Town should be better than that.
Here…
We have exceptional foundations on which to build a just, resilient, successful and inclusive city.
A beacon of hope on the African continent.
A place built on the constitutional values of peaceful coexistence…
And social, economic, environmental and spatial justice for all.
Instead of comparing ourselves to cities such as Johannesburg or Gqeberha…
Cities that do not have the advantages of our exceptionality…
We should measure ourselves by the progress we have made in giving life to our Constitution…
And dignity, every day, to those who call Cape Town home.
Because that…
Ultimately…
Is the job of municipalities.
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