Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has been slammed for “bulldozing” Wynberg residents into supporting a MyCiTi route “for its own benefit”.
More than 200 aggrieved residents and business owners packed the Protea Subcouncil hall in Constantia on Wednesday night to hear Transport for Cape Town’s plans for the Lansdowne/Wetton Road Corridor route.
But the heated meeting was interrupted by Cameron Dugmore of the ANC, who asked city officials to stop the evictions and embark on a “serious” process of negotiation with affected residents.
Irate residents grilled city officials about the eviction of 26 families, the impact on the residential character of Wynberg and potential loss of income for the taxi industry.
“Stop this process. Stop the evictions and start engaging with the people on the ground,” was the impassioned plea of a representative of the taxi industry.
But mayoral committee member for Transport for Cape Town, Brett Herron hit back, saying only four of those families could not be evicted for non-payment of rent.
That sparked outrage from residents, who shouted, “We pay our rates” and “That land was stolen from the coloured people”.
Another slammed the city for putting on a public meeting so it could claim to have fulfilled its obligation for public consultation.
Jo van Zyl, of Sillery Road in Wynberg, said: “If the public in Wynberg don’t support this, will you find alternatives or push ahead with the scheme?”
Herron said South Road was a proclaimed road space big enough to accommodate the MyCiTi service.
“This is not the city evicting people who were not aware they were living in a road reserve. These properties were acquired by the city over a period of 30 years for the purpose of building this road. We put tenants in them so that they were not vacant. The lease would be terminated when the property was required for municipal purposes.”
Herron said the evictions were lease terminations and could not be reversed or stalled by a moratorium.
He also tried to allay mounting concerns about a proposed MyCiTi route through the Wynberg/Plumstead area, by assuring residents that the 2020 plan was still at the conceptual stage.
“We by no means have all the answers. There’s still a lot of work to be done. It should begin operating in 2020. It is a massive and long-term project. We need to engage with lots of communities - 35 along the route. As we fine-tune and need public input, we will come back and ask for it.”
The city needed 10 additional BRT routes by 2032 to meet commuter demand. The Lansdowne/Wetton Road Corridor would be one of these new routes that would provide public transport for 1.4 million people.
“We are a long way from where the design of this corridor is concluded,” he said.
Wednesday night’s meeting was the start of an engagement that would “have to take place over many years”. The Lansdowne/Wetton Road Corridor route, at a cost of R4.1 billion, would be substantially larger than any other public transport project, and the number of passengers using it had been projected to be four times the number using the Table View service.
Herron said the new infrastructure would stimulate a “renewal” of the Wynberg area. Public transport would provide safer access to schools and reduce congestion on busy roads.
It would also have a positive impact on property prices, and help reduce crime.
He also explained why South Road was the preferred option for the MyCiTi service. “It is already a proclaimed road reserve and we don’t need to look at what properties are impacted. The city has acquired many of those properties over the years. The impact would be reduced and the city can implement the scheme far quicker.”
The proposal included the movement of north-bound traffic on the new road, while south-bound traffic would travel on the existing road. This would minimise the impact on the buildings along Main Road. It would include an upgrade of pedestrian access in the area.
Herron said contractors would be appointed in March to investigate the feasibility of the Brodie Road couplet and to conduct extensive public participation so that a detailed transport plan could be finalised. This would include engagement with taxi operators to become part of the MyCiTi service.
Notices about the Wynberg residents’ online petition to mayor Patricia de Lille to “abandon plans for a costly and unsustainable” road scheme in favour of a better alternative, were circulated at the meeting.
Residents argued there was no support for the Brodie Road couplet, and that the city had ignored proposed alternatives.
But Herron said: “We have to remember that this trunk route is not just for Wynberg and we need to get those communities into Wynberg.”
Cape Argus