Mayor hears out Helderber
Cape Town Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, visited Gordon’s Bay for a Q&A session to listen to residents’concerns. Held at the yacht club on Saturday, the meeting drew people representing businesses and civic organisations from all over the Helderberg, where they had the opportunity to raise issues and grievances ranging from service delivery, development and zoning regulations, mining rights, job creation, toll road impacts, rampant drug use among the youth, and social upliftment.
Barbara Louw, on behalf of the Gordon’s Bay Village Action Group – who arranged the meeting – said more cohesion was needed in the Helderberg, and that the City of Cape Town was currently perceived as stopping “at the other side of the airport” along the N2.
Ms Louw welcomed the infusion of increased winter tourism into the area, specifically the result of festivals aimed at drawing visitors to greater Gordon’s Bay during the colder months as well.
Ms Louw also expressed concern over the zero street building line, and the implications regarding access for construction of much-needed stormwater drains and sewerage upgrades.
Additionally, she said the zero lateral building lines could be a problem, as this meant limited space between houses, impacting access for emergency vehicles when the inevitable mountain fires occurred, or when major rains resulted in property damage because the runoff was poorly-directed. The three-storey building regulation was also being ignored, she said, with people opportunistically adding on more floors for business use like B&Bs.
Ms De Lille, wearing a poppy on her blouse to commemorate the end of World War 1 on Armistice (Remembrance) Day on 11/11/11, first expressed her joy and pride at Cape Town not only being acknowledged for its mighty mountain, but also as Design Capital of the World, announced earlier in the week. She then sketched an outline of the City’s five “key pillars” in terms of vision and planning, namely safety, inclusivity, caring, efficiency and opportunity – and announced a “Festival of Ideas” – which encourages suggestions and proposals from all its residents towards actualising these concepts, which will be evaluated and chosen once this initiative is launched in coming weeks.
Some of the pressing concerns raised included the massive development slated for the Helderberg, amounting to another 23 square kilometres – but in the absence of a well-functioning bulk infrastructure. Gavin Smith, representing the Environment Sector Ward 84 of the Helderberg Residents’ Action Association, highlighted the sewer constraints and regular water pipe bursts, saying that “a moratorium on development until infrastructure is upgraded is entirely reasonable”.
Also, he questioned that the Integrated Rapid Transport system is only going to reach this area in the next 10 to 12 years, saying the Helderberg “is not seeing the same level of service as other areas”.
The mayor acknowledged a “massive backlog” in infrastructural development, saying “the ANC spent nothing on this in the past” – and adding that the greatest current challenge is urbanisation.
“In 2035, an estimated 70% of the world’s population will be in the cities – and every year 80 000 new families arrive in the Cape, with informal settlements growing rapidly… putting pressure on infrastructure like schools and hospitals, and coming with the hope of job opportunity, better health care and education.”
Ms De Lille said that the City didn’t want to “kill the golden goose laying the eggs” – referring to resources like rates through the ratepayers. The recent census would be invaluable in assessing the current figures, and this will result in a “bigger slice of the national cake” in terms of resources. National expenditure has been based on 2001 figures, which she says have “increased three-fold in Cape Town” in subsequent years.
The waiting list for houses is at
400 000, with capacity to build up to 15 000 a year currently. “This waiting list is like the elephant in the room,” she said – quipping that now the shoe was on the other foot, and it had been “easier before, fighting at Parliament and throwing stones” – now that she was in the position of having to deliver, it was an “eye-opener” realising the cost of acquiring land and building homes.
Other issues brought to the table were the concerns about the quarry in Firlands and prospecting applications for mining in the area, which Ms De Lille said would be dealt with in the courts.
“National government grants prospecting licences, but the courts have said that the rezoning lies with local government, which means the City will have a say,” she said. The building of additional shopping centres was also in the spotlight, and delays for approval resulting in costly court battles – all of which will be dealt with in a follow-up article.
* Readers who would like a copy of the list of questions sent to the mayor before the meeting, and the answers she supplied (which were not read out at the meeting), can email
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