Bellville and Durbanville residents will see some new faces at sub-councils 3 and 6, with the election of two new chairwomen.
The first order of business for the new Sub-council 3 chairwoman, Helen Carstens, is rolling out the City’s new service delivery plan.
Ms Carstens, the Ward 5 councillor, was elected chair on Tuesday November 15, at the first sub-council meeting after August’s municipal elections.
The City has created four service-delivery clusters, with six sub-councils falling under each, and administrative and line departments are due to re-align from January next year.
The plan would bring service delivery closer to the community, said Ms Carstens, and deal with things such as electricity faults, water leaks, faulty street lights, potholes and illegal dumping.
Ms Carstens replaces Taki Amira, who is now the Ward 21 councillor.
She was first elected as a councillor in an August 2014 by-election.
“I would like to have a sub-council that is interactive, effective and approachable, and I encourage interaction with residents,” said Mr Carstens.
“Public participation is an important aspect of a sub-council and I encourage residents to provide feedback on the various policies and by-laws that go out for public comment and also that residents are fully aware of the various methods available to interact with the City.”
After realignment by the Municipal Demarcation Board, Sub-council 3 has six wards: 1, 4, 5, 70, 107 and 113.
Rosemary Rau is the new Sub-council 6 chairwoman and will also serve as proportional councillor for the DA. She has been a DA councillor since 2006 and previously chaired Sub-council 5, covering Bonteheuwel, Bishop Lavis, Valhalla Park, the airport and Delft.
“As I have only just been elected it would be presumptuous to already have plans for Voortrekker Road. What I do plan to do is to meet all the stakeholders and do a lot of active listening,” she said.
“I do bring with me some experience of the mayor’s urban regeneration project (MURP) as Sub-council 5 was a very successful part of this project. I therefore look forward to picking up on the Bellville transport interchange upgrade and the Elizabeth Park upgrade.”
Ms Rau said sub-councils brought local government closer to the people and active citizens should play their part through their community organisations.
Sub-council 6 covers wards 2, 3, 9,10,12 and 22, including the area between Stellenbosch arterial in the south and the N1 in the north, with a section including Oakdale north of the N2, De la Rey and Giel Basson in the west and the R300 in the east.
Sub-council 7 chairman Gerhard Fourie was re-elected. Mr Fourie, the Ward 103 councillor, has been involved in community matters for more than 20 years.
“We need to focus on transport-orientated development whereby people can stay near their work place, reducing or removing travel time and costs,” he said. “Peak time on the N1/N2 into town has increased from two hours to almost four hours in the morning.”
Adequate infrastructure was needed along with developments that integrated affordable housing, business opportunities and work environments.
“Sport facilities and public open spaces are very important and need to be developed over time. Although budget constraints are a reality, we need to continue in our quest to enhance the not-so-known sporting codes in order to increase the participation of young people and sportsmen and women,” he said.
Mr Fourie asked residents to use the City’s call centre to log complaints and they should make sure they got a reference number as it made it possible to “track the progress or non-delivery of services”.
Wards 21, 103, 105 and 112 form Sub-council 7.