Cape Town - The Central Milnerton Residents Association has renewed its calls to the City for ward 55 to form part of sub-council 3, together with other Milnerton and Atlantic Seaboard wards.
The association commented on the proposed amendments to sub-council boundaries and said the division of the wards has caused a loss of focus on the sanitation issues that contributed to the crisis in the area.
In 2016 the association also objected to sub-council boundaries amendments, recommending that the ward be under sub-council 3.
Association chairperson Bouwer van der Emms said the demarcation also caused a lack of focus on water and sanitation in the Diep River Estuary and Milnerton Lagoon.
Van der Emms said only the proposal by the Democratic Independent party (DI) met their requirements.
Currently, ward 55 is part of sub-council 15 with wards 51, 52, 53, and 56. The DI proposed that ward 55 be located in sub-council 3 with wards 4, 56, 104 and 113, while the ANC proposed that the ward remains in sub-council 15 with wards 31, 50, 51, 52, 53, and 56.
The Democratic Alliance proposed that the ward be placed in sub-council 16 with wards 45, 57, 77, and 115.
Van der Emms said wards 4 and 55 had several commonalities with other wards in sub-council 3 including the Western Seaboard, Diep River, and Milnerton Lagoon.
He said the wards also had major road arterials such as Koeberg Road and Marine Drive as well as Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“Having these wards in the same sub-council will create more co-operation and a common focus on issues related to these common items,” said Emms.
The association also raised concerns about the public comment period being in the middle of the holiday season, having published on December 23 for public participation until January 16.
The association proposed an extension to February 15.
The DI’s Anwar Adams said the proposed reduction of sub-councils from 24 to 21 was a political move and did not speak to equity in terms of population or per annual household income per sub-council.
“We are the only party that has a different proposal compared to others, where we said if sub-councils are to be reduced this must be done to a point where it must be based on equity, where the population is more or less the same in each sub-council, the expenditure is more equitably empowering and development is uplifting,” he said.
The speakers' office was approached for comment but could not respond by deadline.