Cape Town: Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has invited President Cyril Ramaphosa to relocate the G20 Leaders Summit of November to the Mother City. This came in consideration following the President expressing disappointment at the state of Johannesburg during recent G20 meetings he attended.
Reportedly, Lewis spoke at the Johannesburg Metro Council on Thursday, President Ramaphosa referenced the poor state of the city and got involved in the vicinity of G20 meeting venues. He said, “It’s good to be direct and to tell it like it is, I should say that one or two of the meetings of the G20 that I attended here were not very pleasing, the environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment.”
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has opened the way for the President to host further pivotal G20 meetings in the Cape Town, following a successful G20 Finance Ministers Meeting held in the Mother City. He specially desires to host the G20 Leader’s Summit to be held in November, in Cape Town.
Considering this, Lewis urged, “Mr. President you can be assured that Cape Town is ready at any time to host the G20 Leader’s Summit and represent South Africa with pride on the global stage.”
According to Hill-Lewis, Cape Town is a city thriving with Central Business District that offers operating traffic lights, neat and clean roads and sidewalks, unmatched natural beauty and excellent conferencing infrastructure.
As South Africans, they absolutely want to see Joburg rise to be the world-class African city, as it should be, and if the challenges prove insurmountable between now and the November G20 Summit, one can count on Cape Town to perform ‘county duty’ and host a successful summit.
Cape Town has approved a South African recorded infrastructure budget of R39.5 billion for over three years, that is more than the three combined Gauteng metros.
The City of Cape Town has further calculated the 75% of its infrastructure spending directly benefits lower income households, with the pro-poor portion amounting to R9 billion in 2024-25, more than the entire infrastructure budget of any other city.