Local Government and Housing Minister Marius Fransman meets Media Management

Local Government and Housing Minister Marius Fransman and his senior management team met with senior media management and senior reporters from different media houses around the Western Cape to explain in detail the challenges facing his department, the plans to overcome those challenges and the intended outcomes. The meeting was also meant to engage media professionals and opinion makers in order to find solutions to the challenges facing the government and the poor people of this province.

There are immense challenges facing our government and the reality is that these challenges will not be solved by government only and will not be solved today or tomorrow. The Western Cape has a housing backlog of 320 000 families and its budget allows it to build only 18 000 houses per year. The annual migration rate to the Western Cape is 48 000.

This clearly shows that we have scare resources and as government we can only deliver what our budget allows us to. We have seen in the past few weeks how these scarce resources have led to fights among the have nots and how the haves have fought very hard to keep their privileges at the expense of the poor.

We have seen flare ups of racism in Bokmakierie and Ravensmead. We have seen situations that have a serious potential of turning into a black on black violence between the backyarders of Langa and Joe Slovo residents and between the people of Site C and the residents of Mandela Park in Khayelitsha. We understand the scarcity of resources but this is not what we are supposed to be doing after 10 years of democracy. As the state we are not supposed to be deploying police to protect black learners from being attacked by their coloured counterparts. We are not supposed to be deploying police in Bokmakierie to protect the people of Joe Slovo who are going to be deployed in the area.

Something is wrong and we need to work together as South Africans and as Capetonians to avoid such situations taking place again. I asked my department to organize this media lunch so that I can engage you as opinion makers and influential people within our society to help us as government to reshape the mindset of our communities and understand that there is a place for all of us in the sun. As our forefathers, grandfathers and grandmothers committed themselves more than 50 years ago in the People's Congress Kliptown, as this generation and the as the people of Cape Town we need to commit ourselves to the principle of the Freedom Charter that says: "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white." Lets make Cape Town a 'Home for All'