Undoubtedly, the City of Cape Town is the best-run municipality in South Africa. However, the marginalised have been alleging that it offers fewer services to their areas than to those in the leafy suburbs.
I reside in Mountview, originally regarded as a sub-economic area, which is adjacent to Penlyn Estate, whose houses were sold to the middle class in the 1970s. When the gravel roads were tarred in these two areas during apartheid, the driveways of houses in Penlyn Estate were also tarred by the City. However, the driveways of houses in Mountview were not tarred.
Upon recently witnessing that roads were re-tarred in Penlyn Estate, I contacted our councillor – who made the headlines when it was discovered that the electricity meter at his property was tampered with – more than a month ago and asked when the roads in our area would be re-tarred. To date, he has failed to respond.
I also pointed out to the councillor that a few years ago, the driveways of houses in Penlyn Estate were also re-tarred by the City and that the driveways in Mountview are still untarred. I requested him to explain the discrepancy in the services offered to these two areas, bearing in mind that the same municipal rates factor applies now, post-apartheid, to both areas.
I questioned the City’s apartheid-like practice by offering more services to some areas than to others. Despite raising this matter with the councillor’s senior, Alderman Felicity Purchase, no explanation was forthcoming.
Based on the above, can one draw the conclusion that affluent areas in the metro are being offered more services by the City than less affluent areas? You be the judge.
* Adiel Ismail, Mountview.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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