Cape Town - Theewaterskloof Municipality has withdrawn several services to Botrivier after protesting residents threatened extreme destruction of council infrastructure and services due to discontentment over the progress of a housing project.
Theewaterskloof director of community services Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the violent unrest resulted in the closure of the N2 outside Botrivier and damage to private property and toilets at a housing development site.
“The executive mayor and the mayoral committee members visited Botrivier and engaged with the community leadership to calm down the tensions and provide clarity regarding the misinformation.
“The municipality is making significant progress regarding the Beaumont housing development, which is set to benefit 336 people with housing opportunities,” Solomons-Johannes said.
“While the funding for the project has been approved in accordance with the revised enhanced serviced site policy guidelines of the Western Cape government, discontented residents want the municipality to provide services that do not form part of phase 1, but will be provided in phase 2, that provides for a residential settlement.”
Municipality executive mayor Karel Papier cautioned the community not to resort to violence and to disrupt the N2, as its impact on the safety of the general public negatively impacted the local economy of the municipality.
“The municipality will be reviewing the project implementation timeline schedule and the feedback meeting will be taking place next week. The municipality will not tolerate any unlawful actions damaging public infrastructure and putting the lives of the community at risk.
“A criminal case has been opened for malicious damage to government property and inciting public violence at the Caledon police station,” said Papier.
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said: “Caledon police have registered a case of public violence for investigation. No arrests have been made yet.”