Day: November 21, 2022

The City of Cape Town’s Council established the Water Quality in Wetlands and Waterways Advisory Committee in March 2022 to advise the City on the quality and health of Cape Town’s rivers, vleis and waterways. The committee consists of City councillors, aquatic ecologists, and citizen scientists. It concluded its work for the year with the recent announcement of Cape Town’s accreditation as an international Wetland City.

Cape Town’s waterways consists of 1 910km of rivers and streams, and 4 164 natural and semi-natural wetlands, including our vleis and estuaries. These systems can unlock social, economic, and environmental opportunities for the City and its residents.

‘I want to thank the committee members for their dedication and commitment in advising us with the challenges we are facing with the cleaning of our waterways and wetlands. The challenges are wide ranging, require a systematic approach, and most importantly: support from experts and our communities. Improvements will not happen overnight, but we have already made good strides.

‘Last month we appointed environmental consultants to help investigate and assess short-term interventions to restore the environment at the Milnerton Lagoon in the shortest possible time; we are busy finalising the Diep River Estuary Management Plan; and on 10 November at the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Geneva, the City of Cape Town was granted accreditation as an international Wetland City. This is a huge honour and recognition of the work the City has undertaken to date to protect, rehabilitate and restore our wetlands. We concluded our last meeting of the year on a high note, while also acknowledging we have a lot to do when we return in 2023,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor, and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.

‘I am proud of the work done by the Wetlands Committee team. It is a one of a kind structure in local government that brings the brightest minds in water conservation to the centre of our inland water quality programme. At least thirty interventions made by members have tangibly improved inland water quality governance and interventions by the City of Cape Town. The scientific oversight improved by the wetlands committee has laid the foundation for improved water quality for biodiversity and people,’ said Councillor Alex Lansdowne, Committee Chair.

Source: City Of Cape Town

The City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate would like to inform residents that waste services is experiencing delays due to the ongoing taxi strike.

The Urban Waste Management (UWM) Directorate would like to inform residents that the ongoing violent minibus-taxi strike is affecting the City’s waste services, particularly the waste collection service.

The relevant stakeholders and government are currently managing the issue. However, the UWM Directorate would like to appeal for patience in the upcoming days as it makes plans to ensure that all the possible backlogs are attended to as soon as the situation starts to calm down, as the directorate is committed to keeping Cape Town clean.

‘We understand that this is very frustrating for our residents, and we hope this issue will be resolved as soon as possible so we can get back to giving our residents the quality services they deserve. To those residents who can take their recyclables to our drop-off facilities, we suggest they do so. Once again, we apologise for the inconvenience caused,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.

Source: City Of Cape Town

The City of Cape Town’s Urban Mobility Directorate will be resurfacing various roads in the Bloubergrant from Monday, 28 November 2022. Residents can expect the works to continue until Friday, 9 December 2022, pending unforeseen delays and inclement weather.

The work is planned to take place on weekdays only, from 07:30 to 17:00 to limit the impact on road users. Work may also be undertaken on Saturdays if required.

The following roads will undergo upgrade:

Road section:     From:    To:

Dolphin Drive     Watsonia Road  Spray Road

Brander Avenue               Dolphin Drive     Crinum Road

Cowrie Close                      

Mossel Street    Dolphin Drive     Brander Avenue

Spray Road         Dolphin Drive     Brander Avenue

Seemeeu Street               Dolphin Drive     Brander Avenue

‘We ask that the community please cooperate with our team on the ground while the project is ongoing. We would like to resurface these portions of the road to provide residents in the area with a safe and smooth road surface. We have measures in place to help direct residents during the construction period and we urge all road users to please comply,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

The City’s Road Infrastructure Management Department will be milling out portions of the existing road surfacing and replacing it with a new asphalt road surface. This work forms part of regular maintenance to prolong the longevity of the city’s road network.

For enquiries call the Transport Information Centre (toll-free 24/7) on 0800 65 64 63, or email transport.info@capetown.gov.za.

Source: City Of Cape Town

The increase in calls to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC) corresponds with enforcement efforts on the ground that has seen a steady rise in the detection and confiscation of alcohol in recent weeks.

This past weekend, the PECC logged 33 incidents of drinking in public, which is in contravention of the City’s by-laws, more than double the number of complaints in mid-October (15).

Call-takers also recorded 133 incidents of assault, 23 domestic violence calls and 70 motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents.

At the Law Enforcement liquor pound, which has been operational since 1 November, staff members have already logged 629 bottles of confiscated alcohol, amounting to 348,5 litres – not including confiscations that were made this past weekend.

In addition, at least 98 motorists were arrested in the past week for driving under the influence of alcohol.

‘These statistics are likely to increase dramatically in the weeks ahead. We have spoken about this often enough for people to be well acquainted with the law, and the dangers associated with drinking in public, as well as driving while drunk. I therefore have very little sympathy for anyone who is caught indulging in this type of behaviour. Just know that your selfish actions put your own safety at risk, but also that of those around you.

‘Our enforcement services have their hands full every week, dealing with so many different issues. It’s mind-boggling that we have to spend so much time policing poor choices,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

In the past week, the City’s enforcement agencies made 392 arrests and issued 84 094 fines for various transgressions.

On the roads, Cape Town Traffic Services arrested 82 individuals, including 61 for driving under the influence of alcohol and 17 for reckless and negligent driving.

Officers impounded 149 public transport vehicles, executed 1 437 warrants of arrest and recorded 75 301 offences, including a motorist driving at 161 km/h in a 60 km/h zone on Otto Du Plessis Drive, and another doing 178 km/h on the M3, which is a 100 km/h zone.

Their Law Enforcement counterparts made 178 arrests and issued 5 573 notices for various offences, while Metro Police officers made 132 arrests (37 for driving under the influence and eight for reckless and negligent driving) and issued 3 220 traffic and by-law fines.

Source: City Of Cape Town

The City of Cape Town’s Urban Mobility Directorate will be installing traffic calming measures along rounds around Fish Hoek High School from Monday, 28 November 2022. Residents can expect the works to continue until Tuesday, 6 December 2022, pending unforeseen delays and inclement weather.

The work is planned to take place on weekdays, from 08:30 to 16:30. Work may also be undertaken on weekends if required.

The traffic calming measures will be installed along:

Nelson Road

Orlando Road

First Crescent

‘We ask that the community please cooperate with our team on the ground while the project is ongoing. We would like to install speed humps along these sections of the road to ensure the safety of learners and limit the driving speed of road users. This is in line with the City’s Traffic Calming Policy that prioritises the installation of traffic calming measures along roads where there are large numbers of vulnerable road users – these are roads close to schools, hospitals, old age homes, and so forth. We have measures in place to help direct residents during the construction period and we urge all road users to please comply,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

For enquiries call the Transport Information Centre (toll-free 24/7) on 0800 65 64 63, or email transport.info@capetown.gov.za.

Source: City Of Cape Town