Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to use his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday to urgently incentivise energy generation by households and businesses.

South Africa hit a bleak milestone of 100 consecutive days of loadshedding on Tuesday, with rolling blackouts every single day since October 31, 2022.

Hill-Lewis recently announced that the City of Cape Town would pay cash for power fed into the local electricity grid from residents and businesses.

He said government needed to support tax rebate incentives for residents and businesses to go solar while staying on the grid to sell power for cash.

He also wants to see a national solar photovoltaic subsidy for local authorities to rapidly install small-scale embedded generation at public buildings and rental stock.

“We are ready to work with you, your Cabinet, and the national government on reversing key areas of State failure, but we need your help. You have the power to announce the changes needed to devolve more powers to well-run local authorities,” he said.

He explained that the metro’s municipal law enforcement officers were taking guns and drugs off the streets daily, but with more policing powers, the metro could increase convictions to bring lasting change in high-crime areas.

POLICING

Hill-Lewis also wants Ramaphosa to devolve investigative powers to municipal law enforcement so that officers can build prosecution-ready case dockets, especially for guns, drugs and gang crime.

He also demanded that the South African Police Service urgently step up resourcing in crime fighting, particularly in precincts with the highest murder and violent crime rates.

Hill-Lewis also urged Ramaphosa to announce the fast-tracked devolution of passenger rail to cities so that the metro can get Cape Town’s “once-strong” train service running again together with the private sector.

“Making these changes is about people, not politics. Use your State of the Nation address to turn the tide on state failure and give South Africans a sense of renewed hope for the future,” he said.