Instead of a ‘dry white season’, spring is coming for Cape Town

24 Aug 2021

There is no need to even speculate about what defines the preferences of the people of Cape Town. History provides us with hard proof that, above all else, Cape Town wants a government that gets things done.

Geordin Hill-Lewis is the DA candidate for mayor of Cape Town.

The underlying premise of a recent analysis piece by Rebecca Davis is that the attributes of mayoral candidates for the City of Cape Town should conform to, and resonate with, the preferences of a majority of voters in the municipality. So far, so good: this is indeed one of the fundamental features of democracy.

Unfortunately, Davis’ argument quickly veers off track when she then proceeds to incorrectly define the preferences of Cape Town’s voters strictly on the basis of their race and gender. In the interest of empowering Davis and her readers to accurately compare my attributes to the offers of my opponents in this race, I’d like to take this opportunity to correct this mischaracterisation of Capetonians.

Unlike Davis, I believe that the hopes and aspirations of most Capetonians are defined not by how they look, but by their desire to secure a prosperous future for them, their children and their neighbours. I prefer “father” and “husband” as the markers for my identity, and I know many feel the same.

This yearning to live in a city where every resident has access to the basic services they need to live a life they value — including services traditionally in the domain of the national government, such as a reliable supply of electricity, effective policing and safe public transport — is the most important “demographic feature” of the people of Cape Town.

The problem, of course, is that the racial classification system we inherited from apartheid does not give the people of Cape Town the option to define themselves as part of a demographic group that, above all, wants a government that gets things done. As a proud Capetonian who has served communities across the city throughout my 17 years in politics, I have no doubt that, if given the opportunity, the vast majority of my fellow residents would happily select that option instead of one of the racial boxes inherited from our divided past.

That is what differentiates the DA. We say that it is possible for Capetonians to demonstrate real human solidarity with one another on the basis of poverty and care. We say that actually solving complex problems is more important than superficially simplifying them.

What matters is that there are children living in impoverished households, with only one parent, in communities run by gangs, with no opportunities, with access only to bad schools. This situation is true whether you live in Khayelitsha or Kreefgat or Kraaifontein.

There is no need to even speculate about what defines the preferences of the people of Cape Town. History provides us with hard proof that, above all else, Cape Town wants a government that gets things done.

If Davis were correct in her contention that Capetonians cared about race and gender to the exclusion of all else, any number of parties could have won majorities in the city over the past two decades, based purely on the physical appearance of their candidates. But history is littered with the radioactive remains of race-based parties that have dismally failed in Cape Town. Instead, it is the DA that wins in Cape Town, because we are the only party that understands the single most important demographic truth about this city: the people of Cape Town want a government that gets things done.

Once one grasps this basic reality about Cape Town, the questions that should properly be asked about mayoral candidates do not relate primarily to their appearance, but to their ability to deliver the changes we need to take Cape Town to the next level. And I also want to make it perfectly clear that while I fundamentally disagree with the defeatist and divisive worldviews of opposition parties in Cape Town, I implore Davis and her readers to reject these candidates on the basis of their flawed offers, and never on the basis of their racial or gender identity.

We all know that, under the DA, Cape Town has long been the best-run local government in South Africa. But we also know that the time has come to get even more done than ever before to provide access to basic services to every resident of this city, and to secure our city against the ongoing collapse of the national government.

That is why I am committed to pushing the boundaries of local government power further than ever before, so that we can end load shedding, fight for control of passenger rail and expand our law enforcement capacity. It is also why I will fight for the release of state-owned land so that the private sector can build homes for the thousands of Capetonians who need one. And it is why I will push back against the job-killing policies of the national government by running the most entrepreneur-friendly administration our city has ever seen.

I know that the DA can do all of these things for Cape Town precisely because I have spent the past decade going toe-to-toe with the national government in Parliament.

Our city is only beginning to emerge from the long and dark Covid winter, which exposed once and for all that the national government cannot and does not want to provide the critical services that the people of Cape Town need to build lives of value. That is why we must now do more of these things ourselves.

While others preach only doom and see only decline, I see the opportunity of a lifetime to secure a brighter future for Cape Town. While the headline of Davis’s article forecasts a dismal season ahead, the people of Cape Town want and deserve nothing less than a government that can banish this dark winter and ensure that spring comes again for our great city.

With a resounding win for the DA at the upcoming election, Capetonians can prove once again that we are defined not by the skin tones that divide us, but by the desire for a brighter future that unites us. DM

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