Thomas Johnson - The Blog

Politicians take credit for the good news they're not responsible for, but don't take blame when they are.  So it is that periodically the DA takes credit for the Western Cape having a lower unemployment rate than SA as a whole https://www.da.org.za/2024/05/western-cape-and-cape-town-have-the-best-jobs-and-service-delivery-record-in-south-africa-statssa. Misinterpreting the job data, they take credit for the number of employed persons that increased between their arbitrary reference periods (I suspect cherry picking when the data is favourable). They claim they are responsible for "new jobs" being "created" (https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/western-cape-stats-sa-quarterly-labour-force-survey-30-oct-2018) and the province's or Cape Town's "upward economic trajectory" and so on.  These claims are unprovable, specious and even false. At best it's a chronic misunderstanding of how the economy works, which SA's politicians don...

There's a short YouTube video of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis standing outside the civic centre holding pages he says is Stats SA's Quarterly Labour Force Survey. The video's title is "DA creates 86,000 jobs".  Looking like a pupil who won a medal for good marks, unable to contain himself, he points to a page and says Cape Town has 86,000 more jobs than - I didn't get which period - last quarter or last year.  Recently mayco for economic development James Vos similarly wrote in an advertorial they - he, DA and city - are personally responsible for the city's upward "economic trajectory". Little to no credit for citizens and business who actually do the work.  The DA keep making these unfounded, unprovable claims that they "created" x number new jobs in the Western Cape and Cape Town over a period. When Hill-Lewis was the DA's finance spokesman, he made a speech in Parliament claiming such. I emailed asking for evidence, which...

 The City of Cape Town said it would introduce relief measures after protests against the proposed huge property rates and taxes increases in the 2025/2026 budget. These measures remain to be seen but it's unlikely to offset increases of over 20% for residents whose properties are valued over R3 million. The city has received 14,000 comments to the budget and has extended the period for comments. Below are my comments submitted: Comment on Cape Town's 2025/26 Budget DA opposes budget increases  In negotiations with the ANC-led coalition, the DA supported the 2% and then 0.5% VAT increases if it received concessions on other matters. But when these were not forthcoming, it turned 180 degrees and opposed the increases citing it was unaffordable to citizens and would worsen the poor economic conditions in the country.  Their main point, though, was Treasury could make savings in various departments by eliminating dysfunctional and unnecessary departments and wasteful expendi...

Cape Town's public land sales and proposed sales for affordable aka social housing in Lansdowne, Ottery, Rondebosch East, Mowbray, Woodstock (and elsewhere) is questionable. The city is discounting the price so developers can make the units affordable.  But neither they, developers nor media that enthusiastically report the city's announcements, define exactly what "affordable" is. And that's the problem.  First, is it legal under PFMA and MFMA for government entities to discount the value of assets to benefit essentially private sector interests? Sounds like something that happens at corrupt-ridden state enterprises. As defined, affordable or social housing is for households earning up to R15,000 a month. Typically, land in Cape Town becomes available in middle class areas where it's relatively expensive. No-one, certainly not city or developers, are saying what the price of even the smallest units would be. A one-bed flat near the Lansdowne site is selling f...

Cape Town's Parks Department performed unnecessary tree cutting at a local park during August. Two contractors performed the job, Stoddard's and Sunshine. It took a morning. I estimate work of this scope costs R100-150,000. From a horticultural aspect, the cutting was excessive and damaged the trees and their landscaping and environmental purpose. Around half were moderately cut, the remainder severely. Pruning was inconsistent - some trees were left with more growth, others inbetween and a third cut so severely that all that remains is a fringe on top.  All this is indicative of inexpert, unprofessional work and no supervision. As is typical of soft city contracts, apparently Parks did not provide a job specification. There was no supervision of the cutters and no supervision by Parks of the contractors. From the nature of the pruning and the manner Stoddard's and Sunshine performed the work, the workers' were largely unskilled.  I contacted Parks manager Jacques Cedra...