I do find it rather amazing that, in spite of its being a renewable product, the City of Cape Town cannot obtain any tarmac material with which to repair the numerous road crossings that have been damaged since last winter.
What makes it even more remarkable is that several of the crossings have been refilled with gravel several times, presumably after numerous complaints from road users who have encountered these traps.
Come on, City, you can do better! After all, winter will be upon us soon enough, then you won’t be able to do repairs.
Bumpily yours,
SABINE BARING-GOULD
Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation, responds: The City acknowledges residents’ frustration regarding road reinstatements and sincerely apologises for the delays. We are actively addressing this challenge and appreciate the patience of affected communities. The reinstatement of roads after water and sanitation maintenance is a large-scale operation that requires coordination across multiple departments. The City previously faced significant delays due to limited tenders, overlapping responsibilities and constrained internal resources. To address this, the Water and Sanitation Directorate has taken full responsibility for reinstatements and is rolling a new approach out.
Since October 2024 work packages have been awarded to external service providers every four to five weeks to improve turnaround times. The City’s Region 2, which includes Somerset West and is the first phase of this initiative, resulted in more than 1 000 m² of reinstatements completed. Recognising this is not enough, the next phase has been expanded to 3 135 m², covering Macassar, Firgrove, Somerset West, Strand and Gordon’s Bay. Work is scheduled to commence in early March, with detailed lists of affected areas to be shared with the subcouncil in an upcoming meeting.
The City has also secured its reinstatement budget by ring-fencing R55 million for the 2024-’25 financial year to ensure both internal teams and external contractors can accelerate the pace of work.
While the City understands the urgency of these repairs, we assure residents that we are doing everything possible to improve service delivery. We remain committed to addressing the backlog and will continue to refine our processes to ensure faster, more efficient reinstatements.
