'Day Zero' cash pumped into Cape Town's war on crime

Cape Town has pumped millions of rands initially meant to avert a water crisis last year into its crime-fighting war chest.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson lifted the lid on the source of the R165m that has been moved into the safety and security directorate after mayor Dan Plato tabled the adjustment budget for approval by council on Thursday. Neilson said some of the projects meant to prevent "Day Zero" were no longer necessary since the city had received good rains last winter.

"That means that the R1.5bn operation subsidy that was allocated is no longer required, so the R1.5bn is returned to the rates account. There is a huge emphasis on safety and security," said Neilson.

Neilson said councillors were often asked what benefit Cape Town residents received from saving water during the drought. He said Cape Town’s cash flow "remains strong".

"We can now see the benefits," he said. "They are now flowing through this adjustment budget. We have already reduced the tariffs to level three in December. In February/March 2018 we didn’t know how much rain would fall in 2018. We had just come from year 2017 which had the lowest rainfall on record. We also didn’t know how low we would reduce the water demand without having to resort to water rationing or to what was known as the Day Zero disaster management system.

"We had the result of good rainfall and the dams filled up. So projects were either cut or phased out to a later stage."

Plato said of the total adjustments budget of R115m would go towards cleaning up communities which were at the receiving end of illegal dumping, R165m would replenish the safety and security coffers, R40m would go to health services and R26.7m would be pumped into human settlements.

"I know our councillors are committed to ensuring our communities get to enjoy quality services," said Plato. "Our philosophy remains that we need our communities to work with us because we cannot do it alone."

The DA majority voted in favour of the budget, and the ACDP also welcomed it.

"The ACDP has been calling for an increase in the city’s safety and security budget for 10 years and it seems that the DA has heard us," said ACDP councillor Demetrius Dudley.

"The extra R165m will obviously also be used for more fire-fighting vehicles for the city,  for more fire stations to be built close to areas prone to fire … and established informal settlements. We accept the adjustment."

But the ANC dismissed the budget as "anti-poor". Councillor Xolani Sotashe, the leader of the ANC in council, said the city was prioritising safety and security over human settlements.

"We are unable to spend the grants that are given to the City of Cape Town, [mayor] Dan Plato is not saying anything about that," said Sotashe.

"He is not worried about R175m that has been taken back to the treasury. All he is talking about is safety and security. It tells you clearly that the mayor is JP Smith (the councillor responsible for safety and security) because everywhere it's safety and security.

"If you look at the amounts that are directed to safety and security, they are not going to respond to the situation in the Cape Flats where our streets have become war zones. About R50m is going to be allocated to buy the boots, uniforms and so forth, for what? We are sure that kickbacks are going to arise."