Cape Town - The Salt River community will host a stakeholder engagement, covering a number of pertinent issues affecting residents and businesses in the area.
The engagement is expected to take place from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at St. Luke’s Church hall, Corner of Albert Road and Coleridge Road, Salt River on Tuesday, October 8.
The community engagement will take place with the Development Action Group (DAG) and will include feedback from civic leaders and ward councillors on previously raised issues.
This will also allow residents to raise any other issues and share their opinions on raised topics.
Morgan Nair, from the newly formed Activist Citizen Committee, said: “The main purpose of this meeting is that there is no correspondence with the City nor with the councillors in regards to community and community participation… The jobs coming into the ward, the people are not told about it here in Salt River and that's a problem. With this committee, there are several people from different wards that’s working with us and we want to make sure that the people’s needs come first. There are lots of other issues in Salt River- service delivery issues we talk about, and budget allocations. People must suggest what the budget must be used for. For example, we don’t have a clinic or mobile clinic for emergency purposes; roadworks and potholes, for example, are issues here. And people are being robbed.”
He said new residential developments that are being built in Salt River, were not for the poor and those in desperate need of housing.
“What happens to a person who cannot afford it? Someone receiving a grant for example. In Salt River, there are about eight or nine people living in a two-bedroomed house. These houses are too small for them to be accommodated.”
DAG project officer, Lorenzo Johnson, said the meeting formed part of a series of meetings DAG has held with communities for meaningful engagement with local government.
He added that the organisation works in Woodstock and Salt River, to support the development of social housing projects for low-income and working-class households, through urban governance processes.
“We partner with civic leaders, activists, civil society organisations, and government representatives to ensure that the process of developing inclusive neighbourhoods is as participatory as possible,” Johnson said.
“The purpose of this engagement is to share feedback with the community on the workshop held on the 7th of September, to explore the possibility of a collective civic body, to engage with issues within wards 57 and 115, and to encourage community members to engage proactively with local government and ward councillors.”
Ward councillors Ian McMahon and Yusuf Mohamed will be present to respond to issues raised in the meeting that was held on August 13.
Cape Argus