The monthly Sub-council 12 meeting was held at the Lentegeur Sub-council chambers on Thursday May 18, with the agenda including problem buildings, The Zimele Project and the drought.
Pakhuis park in Tafelsig
In his chairman’s report, Sheval Arendse said the media had contacted the sub-council about Pakhuis Park, where often, as many as 200 children queued to play, because there was not enough equipment to accommodate them all (“Playtime blues at Pakhuis Park”, Plainsman, May 17).
He said when the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) funding was approved for a project within Ward 82, he had recommended that it be used to fund the community park.
“In an attempt to curb dumping and sand mining, they removed rubble, fenced off the park and are now in the process of installing equipment,” he said.
He said the park had not officially opened to the public yet and that construction was still under way.
“We would like to urge parents to not allow their children to play in the park as yet, as it is still under construction and we will not be held liable for any injuries incurred there.
“The sub-council would like to urge the community to take ownership of this park and to look after the equipment installed,” he said.
Mr Arendse said parks were being upgraded in all wards and added that the anticipated date of opening was Friday June 30.
Problem buildings
The Department of Safety and Security, law enforcement and the City’s Problem Building Unit did a presentation on problem buildings, with principal inspector Wayne Aldridge explaining what happened when they received a complaint about a problem building.
Mr Aldridge said the department dealt with problem buildings which had been abandoned by the owner; were derelict in appearance; were overcrowded, had been the subject of written complaints regarding, drug dealing or prostitution; were illegally occupied; where refuse or waste material had accumulated, been dumped, stored or deposited and which posed a threat or danger to the safety of the public.
He said there were six steps the department had to follow when investigating a complaint. Four of the stages take seven working days each, one take 21 days and the legal time depends on the courts. So, in total it takes at least 49 days to handle the complaint.
Zimele Project
Also presented at the sub-council meeting last week was The Zimele Project that is funded by the Global Fund, in collaboration with the provincial health department, and the Desmond Tutu Foundation.
The presentation was done by clinical operations manager Colleen Herman, who explained that this was the first time clinics, schools, NGOs and government would be working together to impact an entire community.
Where there is a high HIV prevalence, high incidence of teenage pregnancy and high unemployment, they will be working with 10- to 14-year-old boys and girls, 15- to 19-year-old teenage girls and 19- to 24-year-old women. The sessions will take place at health clinics clinics and mobile facilities.
Water crisis
The City of Cape Town has warned all residents and businesses to cut non-essential municipal water use immediately. Mr Arendse said dam levels were at 21.2 percent, with the last 10 percent of a dam’s water mostly not being useable. The dam levelswere therefore effectively at 11.2 percent.
“In managing the water crisis, we acknowledge that we cannot work in isolation.
“We are now also calling on residents and businesses to stop using municipal water for all outside use,” he said.
Mr Arendse said the City’s mayoral committee had the implementation of level 4 water restrictions – which means the use of municipal water for outside and non-essential purposes would not be allowed at all.
“We are now only allowed to use a bit of water for drinking, cooking and washing. Rain or shine, we are now at a point where all consumers must use below 100 litres a day.
“Stop flushing toilets when not necessary, shower for less than two minutes a day or use a wet cloth for a ‘wipe-down’, collect all would-be wasted water and use it to fill up toilet cisterns, among others,” he said.
