By Quinton Mtyala

A day after being smacked by an angry resident during a surprise visit to troubled Blikkiesdorp, Mayor Dan Plato was again meeting residents in an impoverished corner of Cape Town, but this time with a beefed-up security detail.

Instead of jeers, his visit to areas in Philippi was greeted with indifference.

And despite this reporter witnessing the physical assault on him on Wednesday, Plato denied on Thursday he was ever "klapped" and said instead it was one of his bodyguards who had been smacked by a woman.

To a complaint from community leaders at a Brown's Farm hall that water had been switched off to some residents in the developed area of Brown's Farm, Plato said: "The city council does not switch off water, once people get their pink slips their water is put on a trickle system."
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