GOOD Statement by Jonathan Cupido,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
29 July 2024
Tuesday 30 July is the last day residents can have their say on the proposal to reduce the number of subcouncils in the metro by only one – from 21 to 20.
GOOD has been calling for the complete scrapping of the sub-council system which has no real function yet is costing residents millions of rands each year.
Earlier this month, the DA proposed the single reduction to the City Council which alone would save the residents of Cape Town R7 million a year.
This means if the Council was to scrap the entire sub-council system, it would free up over R150 million a year that could be used for better services and lower rates and taxes.
The sub-council system did serve a purpose when these structures had actual delegated town planning powers and functions.
Before the adoption of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) in 2015, councillors exercised planning approval powers in the sub-councils, clustered by wards in geographical areas. It therefore made sense for proposed plans to be approved at a local level in smaller councils.
However, since the introduction of SPLUMA and the Planning By-Law, councillors are prohibited from making planning decisions, meaning sub-councils now have no real delegated powers.
The delegated functions they have been left with are mostly duplications of Council and City officials’ duties, or simply unnecessary, including recommending which beaches should be identified as dog-friendly.
For this work, the 20 sub-council chairpersons each earn more than R1.1 million per year. Unsurprisingly, the 20 sub-council chairpersons are mostly filled by DA councillors, except in those areas where the ANC got more votes – then the sub-council is chaired by an ANC councillor.
Scrapping the pointless sub-council system would mean that Chairpersons would become ordinary councillors and lose their excessive salaries.
GOOD will table a counter-proposal to the proposed amendment of the Sub-Council By-Law which calls on Council to do away with sub-councils and use that money to improve services and lower operating costs of Council.
Media Enquiries:
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 073 367 1223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za
Jonathan Cupido, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
Cell: 084 865 8122
Email: jonathanc@forgood.org.za