Mayoral Pop-Up Office makes stop in Mitchells Plain and Jim se Bos to update residents on upcoming City projects

06 Sep 2018 in Where We Govern

On Thursday, 06 September 2018, Executive Mayor – Patricia de Lille visited Mitchells Plain as part of our Mayoral Pop-Up Office initiative which gives us an opportunity to engage face-to-face with residents on matters of service delivery.

For our eighth Pop-Up Office, I was joined by Mayoral Committee Member for Area South, Councillor Eddie Andrews, and Ward Councillor Elton Jansen (Ward 43).

We started our visit to Mitchells Plain with a pop-in to Pastor Cecil Isaacs who leads the Jehovah Jireh Community Outreach ­Ministries.

Pastor Isaacs runs a soup kitchen three times a week which feeds 800 children in the Lentegeur, Beacon Valley and Montrose Park areas. He operates from two shipping containers donated by the Mayor’s office.

We are grateful to residents like Pastor Isaacs who dedicate their time and resources to uplift their communities, efforts which are at the heart of our commitment to building a caring city.

Our journey also took us to the site of a pipeline housing project which is currently in the beginning stages. The City is currently in the process of appointing consultants who will lead the early phase of this development.

The project can deliver approximately 4 500 mixed-use units, with about 1 000 of those allocated for social housing.

There will be an intensive public participation process to get residents to be involved in the decisions to be taken in the community. We have encouraged residents to engage with Councillor Jansen, who is also Subcouncil 23 chairperson, for more information on the upcoming housing project.

In the Jim se Bos informal settlement today we had officials taking down complaints and housing queries from residents. We also communicated good news with regard to electrification of the informal settlement. Jim se Bos is on private property, meaning the City could not provide services on the land but on the periphery of the settlement.

Following engagements with the landowner, Abe Parker, the City has been granted permission to install electricity infrastructure for the residents.

We are really excited to be able to provide this service to the community of Jim se Bos as we have had constant engagements with the leadership about improving the conditions of residents in the area.

This project is just one of a few that the City is undertaking in Ward 43 for the 2018/19 financial year. Another project is the installation of CCTV Cameras in Strandfontein to improve safety. The ward has also allocated R250 000 towards the installation of floodlights at the Strandfontein Sports Field and R150 000 for upgrades to a park in San Remo.

The Mayoral Pop-Up Office provided a platform for the residents of Jim se Bos to have a face-to-face engagement with myself, City representatives and officials about service delivery.

Since the start of this innovative concept three months ago, we have visited various communities and dealt with more than 200 individual complaints ranging from housing queries to water billing and refuse collection.

This innovative initiative is in line with the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP) and its goal to ensure a customer-centric administration which puts the needs of Capetonians firsts.

It is our intention to take the Mayoral Pop-Up Office to as many communities as possible to give residents an opportunity to hold us accountable at ensuring the best quality of service for all residents of this great city.