The Mayor’s community outreach programme, which began on Tuesday 15 September, is opening up new channels of communication for residents, who are taking advantage of the opportunity to give voice to their service delivery needs and issues.

The campaign, entitled ‘Taking the City to the People’, takes the form of a series of public meetings and ‘walkabouts’ in which residents are invited to tell the Mayor what their most important service delivery needs are.

“My goal is to meet with as many residents as possible and to communicate with them about issues that are important to them,” enthuses Alderman Plato. “I see my role as reaching out – particularly to the most vulnerable. My work is to listen to the residents, to help bring more services to them, to address their issues” he says.

The public meetings are held in the evenings at an assortment of venues throughout Cape Town. For a list, please click here. They begin at 19:00 with a brief introduction on what the City’s responsibilities are, followed by an explanation of the context in which it operates, including an analysis of its limitations and how these affect its capacity. This is followed by an interactive questions and answers session, in which residents are invited to highlight major issues that affect their community as a whole. The meetings last for an hour and a half.

The campaign has been implemented to reflect the City’s commitment to engaging with its residents about what they feel should be done to improve service delivery in Cape Town. Subcouncil chairpersons, managers and ward councillors have also been invited to the meetings, making it an ideal opportunity to get to know more about the City’s political structures, such as subcouncils and ward forums.

“Many people are unsure of what the City is responsible for,” says Rulleska Singh, Media Spokesperson for the Mayor. “Some residents have come to the meetings with concerns about schools and hospitals, which are not City competencies. They leave knowing what government office to contact, and how to go about it.”

The City provides a range of services, including:

• Refuse removal
• Law enforcement
• Traffic management
• Health services (clinics)
• Town planning
• Community halls
• Stormwater management
• Sport and recreational facilities
• Road maintenance and construction
• Water
• Electricity
• Parks
• Libraries
• Housing
• Fire and rescue
• Street lighting
• Cemeteries
  

“So far, there are 46 of these meetings planned until the end of the year. They will cover nearly every area in Cape Town, from Atlantis to Ocean View,” she says.