Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis joined cleaning teams today as the City’s new 400-strong Highway Cleaning Unit began duties along the metro’s highways, major arterial roads, and transport hubs. The Mayor was joined by Grant Twigg, Mayco Member for Urban Waste Management.
The new highway cleaning teams will work in shifts from 07:00 to to 8.30, Monday to Friday to cover major arterial roads such as N1, N2, M3, M5, R300, as well as other significant roads and transport hubs.
400
‘’I was glad to join our teams today as close to 400 new personnel began their cleaning duties along major routes across Cape Town. For the first time, our city now has a mass-cleaning unit dedicated solely to our main highways, arterial roads, and transport hubs. This will help to up the frequency and intensity of our existing area cleaning efforts, by adding hundreds more cleaning boots to the ground. Not only will this ensure a visibly cleaner city for residents and visitors using our metro’s major roads, it will also free up the City’s existing cleaning workforce to focus efforts elsewhere in our metro. We are building a cleaner Cape Town that we can all be proud of, also in partnership with the many ordinary Capetonians who show their civic pride by never littering, and by volunteering to bring about cleaner communities and public spaces,” said Hill-Lewis.
R88 million
A total of R88 million has been allocated to the highway cleaning initiative in 2025/26, with close to 400 new cleaning boots added to the ground, including 298 workers, 78 team leaders, and 18 senior foremen. “The new highway cleaning unit will also target known illegal dumping hotspots. A 24-hour toll-free number (0800 110077) has been set up for residents to report illegal dumping tip-offs in exchange for a reward where this leads to arrests. “We encourage residents to work with us to tackle illegal dumping. Call our toll-free number to report illegal dumping any time of the day or night, and if we catch the culprits, you will get a reward. Together we can ensure a cleaner Cape Town,’ said Twigg.
