With her focus squarely on practical solutions for community challenges, Brackenfell businesswoman Carla Lourens-Ferreira is standing as the Cape Independant Party’s (Capexit) candidate in the municipal election on 23 October.
During a sit down with TygerBurger last week, she elaborated on the ideals that fuel her candidacy.
says Lourens-Ferreira, the founder of C-Max Security.
Due to time constraints she opted to represent the Capexit rather than standing independently as was first envisioned.
The lack of adequate communication between the community and the City of Cape Town is the main driving force behind her decision to stand.
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In recent years, Lourens-Ferreira has become well-known in the community through the various WhatsApp groups she started to establish communication channels in the ward.
“In my role as security provider, I often have to jump in to channel complaints from frustrated residents to the relevant authorities and then make sure its followed through.”
A particular challenge she wants to tackle should she be elected to council is that of vagrancy, an issue that has escalated in recent times.
“Complaints about vagrants are streaming in. Illegal structures are popping up everywhere as more and more homeless people migrate to Ward 8, causing an array of problems ranging from criminality to public cleanliness,” she says.
Refuse collection day
On refuse collection day, chaos erupts in Protea Heights.
“Vagrants descend on our streets turning out bins. We recently had an incident where one vagrant was chasing another one with a knife down the street. Residents are frightened and too anxious to leave their homes on these days, and streets are left littered.”
A realistic and feasible approach to solving this problem is needed.
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She suggests a coordinated plan funded by ward budget allocations to install locking systems to all refuse bins. She refers to a street in Protea Heights where bin scratchers left the area within a few weeks after this strategy was implemented.
“Constitutional law affords all citizens freedom of movement, making it near impossible to ask bin scratchers to leave the area, but making the bins inaccessible will prevent the influx on bin days,” she says.
“And there is simply not enough law enforcement or police resources to successfully police the sector. Vagrancy often brings criminal elements with it as public spaces and parks are dirtied where vagrants pack out and sleep, drink and perform ablutions. As a community we will have to act very swiftly before the issue becomes completely out of control.”
Passion
For Carla, who has called Brackenfell home since 2008, the “town and its people” are her passion.
“I love this beautiful place, it is my town and my people. Its a unique community that can unite in a blink of a second in times of crisis. I know other Brackenfellers feel the same. It saddens me to see the urban decay in other parts of the city, I want to prevent this in our town.
As a public representative she says there are also many uncomfortable questions that need to be asked and answered by the City administration.
“Why, for instance, does it cost the City tens of thousands of rands to construct one speed bump, a job that can be done for considerably less? And why do our road surfaces look like a bad patchwork?
Lourens-Ferreira explains that in a by-election residents don’t vote for a specific party in itself, but rather for a person and a voice.
“I am ready to be that voice and to fight for the residents in Ward 8.,” she concludes.
Keep an eye out for upcoming editions of TygerBurger to read about other candidates standing for the by-election as they are being made public.
