Cape Town - Residents of Goodwood met with mayor Dan Plato this week, and he has resolved to return to the community “as soon as possible” to continue with his discussions.
Plato’s engagement with the community over various challenges, such as crime and service delivery, follows an outcry over business robberies and other crimes in the area.
During a feedback session with the Goodwood Residents' Association at the Goodwood Council Chambers, residents engaged Plato; deputy mayor Ian Neilson; ward councillors Francesca Walker and Cecile Janse van Rensburg; and law enforcement and traffic officials responsible for Area North.
Earlier the Cape Argus reported that gun-wielding robbers were terrorising businesses along Voortrekker Road, with many of them having been robbed more than once and the police seemingly unable to do anything about it. Other concerns raised with Plato included problem buildings, billing queries and homelessness.
Faizel Petersen, chairperson of the Goodwood Ratepayers' Association, said that in February the organisation had invited former community safety MEC and now premier Alan Winde for a walkabout in the area to see for himself the problems with crime in the area.
Petersen said they were happy with Plato’s feedback, but he said he was waiting for his return to discuss the report he had tabled to him.
Plato said they had heard residents' concerns, and one of their interventions would be to deploy more metro police in “an attempt to fill the gaps left by insufficient police resources in the area”.
“Crime is concentrated in the Goodwood CBD and there will have to be a presence of officers there as a deterrent. We will work towards a more sustained, 24-hour service. We hope to appoint more metro police over the coming budget cycles. We will also be sharpening our by-laws to address problem buildings,” Plato said.
He said the problem-building by-law was being redrafted to address loopholes, and officials expressed the hope it would go before the council for approval in the coming months.
“In the May budget I announced that each ward would get a dedicated law enforcement officer. This is in addition to the 100 officers being deployed next month to three areas of the Cape Flats as well as 18 to the Cape Town CBD,” Plato said.
@SISONKE_MD