Cape Town – The Greater Table View Action Forum (GTAF) says it has noticed a serious decline in maintenance and upkeep in the Table View area.
From broken sewage and stormwater drain collectors to the deteriorating state of public parks that have been taken over by drug users, the forum said things had been getting worse over the past five years.
GTAF management committee member Dirk van Niekerk said the area had leaking and failing water infrastructure.
“In 2018, there were seven leaking water lines in Flamingo Vlei alone. By 2020 this had jumped up to 40, and for 2021 so far we’ve had 45 by the end of February, some of them major leaks.
“The system is old and in need of an upgrade. A plan is in place to do so but has been halted due to tender appeals issues. The indicators over the last few years clearly showed that this process should have been completed more than a year ago.
“The quality of the workmanship is also a concern. Many of these leaks needed to be attended to more than once. One leak, in particular, was not attended to for 10 days after being reported and to date has not been looked at,” he said.
Van Niekerk said repairs to roads and sidewalks were also lacking, with many roads left unrepaired for months.
“The Marine Circle area is in such a poor state that smaller cars have serious trouble navigating the intersections. Again, a plan is apparently in place to resurface some roads, but in the meantime they are left in complete disrepair,” he said.
He said Covid-19 has been used as a “convenient” excuse.
“The community has lost faith in the City and their intent to maintain our suburb. In fact, the City has actively encouraged and approved densification in the Greater Table View area, knowing that the infrastructure cannot handle the current load, let alone a bigger one,” he said.
Table View Ratepayers Association chairperson Mandy da Matta said there was a need for co-operation between the City and its citizens.
“The Potsdam waste has been polluting the area for a long time, and we have been fighting the water war. How can the City allow development and not maintain the infrastructure? Is there not a way that they can collaborate, rather than wasting money and time fighting? The sewage is an untenable situation, and what is (it) going to take the City to co-operate with its rate-paying citizens? The infrastructure is going to collapse like it did from last November, and now it’s about how do we solve the problem. We can’t always be at war with one another,” she said.
Ward councillor Joy McCarthy was approached for comment, but requested to respond today.
Cape Argus