Some Dunoon and Joe Slovo residents have criticised the City of Cape Town for prioritising certain areas over others when rolling out services.
On Wednesday October 30, City Mayor, Dan Plato took to Table View and Atlantis in a pothole repair campaign. He was among the City workers who repaired potholes in South Road, Flamingo Vlei, in Table View and Grosvenor and Fortune streets in Atlantis.
The City’s Roads Department spent R38 million repairing nearly 20 000 potholes during the 2018/19 financial year.
Mr Plato said the main cause of the potholes was water but it could also be attributed to diesel spillage, vehicle collisions, fires, and inadequate road drainage. He said that in the City, in addition to pothole-fixing, R287 million is spent per annum on resurfacing roads.
“This campaign is part of a back-to-basics approach to service delivery and to remind residents that we are committed to ensuring that more people experience the benefit of efficient service delivery,” said Mr Plato.
He said the formation of potholes are a common occurrence in winter as they are directly related to heavy rainfalls and the age or condition of the roads.
“Now that we are experiencing warmer weather conditions, road repair teams are able to carry out more repairs that are not quickly undone by more rain,” said Mr Plato.
Phoenix, Joe Slovo and Dunoon residents have criticised the decision to prioritise Atlantis and Table View and claim all they get are community cleanups even though their roads are in worse shape.
In April, the mayor was in Dunoon and Table View doing a clean up of the areas and in July, he was in Joe Slovo on a similar mission (“Plato takes clean-up to Joe Slovo”, Tabletalk, July 10).
These cleaning operations were part of the Keep Cape Town Clean campaign, which was launched by the City in March.
Phoenix resident Sibongile Kofi said they get ignored at every turn by the City when they ask for assistance with road maintenance and they only get the attention of the City when they take their grievances to social media and other media outlets.
“For 10 years, the City has been turning a blind eye to our needs in Phoenix and Joe Slovo. Roads in Milnerton, however, get regular maintenance,” he said.
Chuma Maholwana, a 25-year-old from Dunoon, said common sense should prevail.
“We know that there are areas in Cape Town that are in terrible condition and those places should be a priority.
“The issue of damaged roads in Dunoon is not a new one but the City tries to do quick fixes, which doesn’t help. We need permanent solutions to this mess. The roads are dangerous for motorists and pedestrians. We need a change,” she said.
Mayoral committee member for transport, Felicity Purchase, said that the campaign to repair roads spoke to their commitment to delivering basic services that will improve the well-being of residents and motorists.
“I also want to remind residents that we rely on them to inform us of potholes in their areas/streets. If we don’t know about it, we cannot fix it,” she said.