Mayor Dan Plato was once again out in communities, rolling up his sleeves and joining City staff in neighbourhoods across Cape Town. The day started with handing over soup kitchen equipment in Delft, followed by fixing potholes in Uitsig, checking on pothole repairs in Goodwood and leading a clean-up in Nyanga.
‘This series of activities is intended to reinforce that the City of Cape Town is taking proactive steps to attend to service delivery for the benefit of our residents. We are assisting soup kitchens as the need for food aid remains, our pothole repair campaign is achieving great success in eliminating the backlog of pothole repairs in Cape Town, and the clean-up is intended to remind communities that we need to work together to keep neighbourhoods neat and tidy. We are doing our best to clear backlogs created by reduced capacity due to the national lockdown restrictions with the support of external contractors. With increased capacity, we are working as quickly and comprehensively to fix all reported potholes, following one of the rainiest seasons in recent years,’ said Executive Mayor Dan Plato.
Starting the day in Delft, the Mayor handed over soup kitchen equipment to Shirley De Bruin, who began operating a soup kitchen at the start of lockdown and feeds approximately 250 children three times a week. De Bruin has been doing this out of her own pocket and reached out to the Mayor’s office for assistance. Today, she received a three-plate gas burner, gas pot, a 100L and 80L pot, soup mix, lentils, a 20kg bag of soy and other dry food ingredients to continue the much-needed outreach in communities.
‘The need is great and I am very happy for this donation because the pot I have seems to get smaller as the number of children needing a meal continues to grow. I am so grateful for this as my gas pot was empty and I was also running low on ingredients. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feed the children this week,’ said Shirley De Bruin.
The Executive Mayor then moved to Uitsig where he and Alderman Felicity Purchase joined the city’s roads team to fix potholes as part of efforts to eradicate the backlog of reported potholes in Cape Town.
Since June, more than 10 186 potholes have been fixed, indicating how we have ramped up capacity following the impact of the rainy season and the national lockdown on the reach of repair and maintenance work.
City wide, the City’s Road Department has repaired:
- 2 776 potholes during the five-month period January 2020 until the end of May 2020
- 10 186 potholes during the five-month period 1 June 2020 until the end of October 2020
‘Our recovery plans include a new Pavement Management System (PMS), network level tool that determines the broader needs of the City’s road network. The PMS is aimed at helping us determine which areas will be priority in the future. This will also help dispel the perception that work is only done in affluent areas, ‘said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Alderman Felicity Purchase.
The PMS has highlighted that the bitumen, the black glue in the asphalt on city roads, often inaccurately but popularly referred to as tar, is significantly dry/brittle.
When the City experienced the sudden high rainfall after a prolonged period of drought, the surfacing in many instances allowed water into the underlying layers, which resulted in the formation of potholes and surfacing failures where the surface popped off.
The City, like many road authorities in South Africa, has a massive backlog in road maintenance and rehabilitation. Preference, where possible, will be given to higher order roads, which promote mobility and thus have a high impact on the economy,’ said Alderman Felicity Purchase, Mayoral Committee Member for Transport.
Residents can report potholes to the Transport Information Centre on 080 065 6463. This is a 24/7 information centre and is toll-free from a landline or a cell phone. Alternatively, a mail can be sent to Transport.Info@capetown.gov.za. You can also contact our Customer Call Centre on 0860 103 089.
Following the pothole repair in Uitsig, Mayor Dan Plato and Alderman Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Water & Waste picked up litter next to the Nyanga Family Recreation Park with solid waste staff.
‘We are also working hard to bring the message across that clean communities benefit all of us. Illegal dumping that is dumped in neighbourhoods contravenes City by-laws. I wish to encourage residents to take pride in the areas they live in, so they can make full use of recreational spaces and so that they are not at risk in terms of their health. With day-to-day life having resumed, we have seen a sharp increase in general littering in various communities. This clean-up campaign is another element of our drive to enhance service delivery for the benefit of communities and to show our residents what we can achieve if we all work together. If we all pitch in, we can keep our city clean,’ said Alderman Limberg.
Illegal dumping is harmful and against the law. Vehicles used in illegal dumping can be confiscated and a release fee of more than R17 000 will be charged, over and above the fines issued for dumping. To report illegal dumping, please call 0860 103 089.
We call on our residents to come out and support the campaign. #KeepCapeTownClean!