Overgrown vegetation and reeds along a channel known as the Geelsloot in Paardevlei is raising residents ire.
The channel runs adjacent to several homes and often overflows, which often leads to flooded properties, especially in the winter. It’s a plight residents claim they have alerted authorities to for more than two years.
“We’ve contacted the City of Cape Town multiple times, but nothing is done. We are not complaining about the litter; it’s about the overgrown reeds and the resultant flooding it causes, especially with heavy rainfall. Then the litter is obviously trapped, which is unsightly and unhygienic,” said resident Lorren Fairbairn.
“It’s not that we don’t want to clean the sloot in terms of litter, but the services we pay for as ratepayers should at least be carried out.”
For now, the channel is full and not overflowing, at least until the next rains, Fairbairn said. She further admitted trapped litter is either from passersby or from further upstream, which washes down with the rains.
“My grandma has paid people to come clean several times, and she is just a pensioner,” said Fairbairn.
“I anticipated that when winter arrived, we would have major problems with flooding due to the debris and vegetation that is growing rife in the sloot, blocking the water flow. Low and behold, when he had the first storm, our house nearly flooded. Unfortunately, many other neighbouring homes were not so lucky.”
Ward 84 councillor Carl Punt reiterated that the City does have a team focused on cleaning rivers and channels.
“This team works on the problematic channels first and then moves down to the others,” he explained. “Residents need to take into account that channel cleaning is not a daily or weekly exercise, thus those living next to the channels need to report perpetrators of illegal dumping, which is the biggest problem causing blockages.
“Normally, in all channels, there is vegetation, which is removed or cut annually. Reeds are a natural mechanism to assist the cleaning of water, thus they do serve a purpose in channels where there is a lot contamination of water.”
Punt added that the region has experienced been an abnormal high amount of rain in a short period, and that the City’s stormwater system was heavily under pressure.
“With normal rainfall, the system will function perfectly, as the City’s annual winter readiness programme, which is carried out before winter, contributes to cleaner systems.”
