Statement by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town,
Alderman Patricia de Lille
City launches “Know Your Community, Know Your
Contractor” campaign
The City of Cape Town, as part of our efforts to build a Caring City that is
responsive to the needs of the people who live here, is committed to
empowering our citizens.
We do this by providing all possible channels of communication between
the City and residents, wherever they live in the city, so that they can
assist us to improve levels of service delivery.
The City has an extensive array of mechanisms to report faults and
problems. We have installed 70 FreeCall lines in disadvantaged
communities, including informal settlements. In addition to this, another
20 FreeCall lines are set to be connected by the end of July 2014.
Despite this roll-out, our C3 system (customer complaint system)
indicates that a number of communities, particularly in poorer areas
around the city, have not been making full use of the available
mechanisms.
In order to help overcome this, and to help us with service delivery in
these communities, I will, starting today, lead a “Know your Community,
Know Your Contractor” campaign.
This campaign is aimed at informing communities living in informal
settlements about their rights and obligations related to the City services
they receive.
Like all metros in South Africa, the City of Cape Town makes use of
contractors, where required, to help us provide basic services. This is
particularly so with regards to the provision of sanitation and solid waste
services.
The City has extensive monitoring systems in place. These include:
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spot checks;
joint inspections between the City and the relevant contractor;
record-checking;
information-sharing meetings;
the use of community workers to assist with further monitoring of
service provision;
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the use of janitors under the Expanded Public Works Programme to
assist with further monitoring;
cross-checking of invoices;
verification of City vehicles’ movements using tracker records;
monitoring and measuring of waste drop-offs at designated central
points – this allows us to verify that the necessary work has been
undertaken in a specific area.
However, we cannot be in all places at all times. We rely on communities
being the eyes and ears of the City, helping us to identify any
shortcomings on behalf of the community.
As part of this campaign, I will be holding eight public meetings in the
coming weeks. The details of the public meetings are as follows:
Date
28 May 2013
4 June 2013
6 June 2013
18 June 2013
20 June 2013
2 July 2013
4 July 2013
9 July 2013
Area
Block 6, Philippi
Kosovo
Kanana, Barcelona, Europe
TR, QQ, France
Dunoon
Imizamo Yethu
The Heights
Freedom Farm/Malawi Camp
At these meetings I will provide communities with information about:
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How to identify the City’s contractors who provide Water and
Sanitation and Solid Waste Management services;
What kinds of services are provided by these contractors on behalf
of the City;
What levels of service the community can help to monitor;
Where and how to report service delivery-related complaints.
A critical aspect of this campaign is to remind communities that, if they
have exhausted all communication channels of the City, they must make
use of their local Ward Councillor to address any aspects of delivery that
require attention.
Whilst it is the City’s responsibility to provide essential services and to
monitor the contractors that provide these services, it is the responsibility
of the community to help us keep their neighbourhoods clean and in a fit
and healthy state.
This means that community members need to report acts of vandalism,
which has cost the City a total of R13 958 252,49 for water and sanitation
infrastructure for this financial year alone.
I am confident that by working together with communities and by these
communities using the channels available to them to report any instances
of sub-standard service, we will be able to ensure a higher level of service
delivery in informal settlements.