Statement by the City’s Deputy Mayor, Alderman Eddie Andrews

The United Nations declared 20 February as World Day of Social Justice and the theme this year is ‘Achieving Social Justice through Formal Employment’. The City of Cape Town’s political leadership and several dignitaries celebrated the day at the Civic Centre yesterday afternoon.

World Day of Social Justice is being commemorated since 2007, and focuses on solutions that will achieve sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, promotion of permanent employment and decent work, universal social protection, gender equality and social justice for everyone around the world.

This links directly to my sense of purpose for this term of office and also embedded in the quote by Theodore Roosevelt: ‘Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care’. This is personal for me.

This obligation can be strategically summarised in one sentence: to reach and influence every resident in the City of Cape Town by institutionalising a customer centric service delivery offering, changing mind-sets and empowering people to lead and impact in every department and level of management.

Our 27 000 staff understand customer situations, perceptions, and expectations.

A consequence of this pursuit can only be observed over time, where every resident will start to see our genuine desire to assist, by asking: ‘How can we help?’

I first learnt about the UN World Day of Social Justice on New Year’s Day this year.

I always knew that pursuing the values of equality, access, participation and rights were important. I am now even more excited to use the platform afforded to me to be mindful of these in my everyday conduct, decision-making and engagements as a politician, a father, husband, son, friend and a member of society.

For the past 10 years as a politician, and before that as a professional sportsperson, I have always been acutely aware of the various platforms I have. Sport afforded me the opportunity to be on TV, radio and work across various communities in Cape Town.  Every position I’ve held, I strived to remove barriers, so that others can have access and participate. In fact, when I engage with City departments at work regarding the needs of residents, I am very clear. I ask: ‘Tell me how this can be done?’

I don’t need to explain injustices I have seen and lived, but I do take responsibility for the role I can play to create a society in which ‘social justice for all’ can be practised and actualised. This is very personal for me.

As a public servant, I want to create a culture to strongly convey I care. Therefore I keep asking myself: Are we doing enough?

World Day of Social Justice is being commemorated since 2007, and focuses on solutions that will achieve sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, promotion of permanent employment and decent work, universal social protection, gender equality and social justice for all around the world.

According to the UN, more than 60% of the world’s two billion workers earn their livelihoods from the informal economy. They are more vulnerable than those who are employed in the formal sector, and they have very little resilience to absorb shocks and disruptions such as those caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cape Town is no different. We have all witnessed the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the informal sector, in particular during the months of the hard lockdown when freedom of movement, and consequently trading and informal work, were severely curtailed.

Last year, after the municipal elections, we made a commitment that Cape Town’s new political leadership will do all we can to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable in our society. Economic recovery is pivotal to this. We need to grow our economy so that more people can find employment, and can be productive.

There is so much that can, and must be done. But, we also need to focus our efforts to see real impact. The real impact must contribute towards reducing unemployment among our youth in particular, and creating an enabling environment for those who have been marginalised or left out from accessing economic opportunities.

Social cohesion is very much part of this endeavour as it refers to the degree of social integration and inclusion of communities and society at large, and the extent to which mutual solidarity expresses itself among individuals and within communities.

The average age of South Africa’s population is 27,6 years, and in Africa it is 19,7 years. This is the contextual reality that we face as a developing country and continent. We have a generation of young people in waiting and they are at risk. We have to do all we can to address poverty, inequality and unemployment. We have to rebut this stark reality by creating an environment for hope and believe in a better future.

The City has many policies focusing on how we can achieve greater efficiencies, and improve living conditions.

I want to mention one critical example, namely our Transit-Oriented Development Strategic Framework. With transit-oriented development, we encourage and pursue development in precincts with good access to public transport, amenities, and employment. This is very important because well located development brings down the cost of commuting because residents will live closer to opportunities, will travel smaller distances, and have more time to be productive. Simply put, it improves access to opportunities.

Thus, the City’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) strategic framework aims to bring residents closer to jobs, either by developing housing opportunities in areas with economic activity, or to create more economic opportunities in residential areas.

In so doing, we can create a more inclusive and efficient Cape Town that will attract more investment, which is needed to boost our local economy and to create jobs.

Actually, we should be celebrating World Social Justice Day every day.

I want to reaffirm the City’s commitment to building an inclusive city where all have the opportunity to take part in a prosperous future with dignity.

Caption 1: An on-the-couch dialogue session took place at the Civic Centre where the City celebrated the UN World Day of Social Justice. Ald. Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, is on the far right, chairing the session on Sunday afternoon, 20 February 2022. The discussion and the breakaways addressed how to define social justice, and how a community can assist in achieving this among other things.

Caption 2: A group photo of those who attended the dialogue on Sunday, 20 February 2022, for the UN Day of Social Justice.

Source: City Of Cape Town