Town Centre predicament ignored

AS A long-term tenant of Mitchells Plain Town Centre, the long-neglected CBD of an apartheid-era social project catering for nearly 500 000, mainly poor, displaced coloured inhabitants, I read with interest the newspaper article written by a previous resident, Ryland Fisher, about his recent negative experience visiting the “Town Centre” and its affront to his dignity and to those who are poor and marginalised.

It is clear that the voices of these poor and marginalised are seldom being heard in the top echelons of government, whether local, provincial or national, and their concerns about government failures are not readily attended to, unless highlighted by mainstream media, in this case, the Weekend Argus.This is not just a

Cape Town phenomenon, but occurs throughout South Africa.

In an ironic twist, barely a week after Fisher’s visit, Town Centre patrons were greeted to the smell of raw sewerage flowing through parts of the centre, leaving many having to navigate the area with extreme caution and simultaneously endure the sickening stench. The municipality responded by spraying disinfectant chemicals onto the sewerage in order to reduce the smell. I doubt whether such an incident would be neglected in wealthy areas such as Sea Point or Claremont.

The perception that the poor, and let’s be honest, predominantly “non-white” areas in Cape Town, are receiving a lower standard of service delivery is hard to counter.

The social media campaign on Facebook, called “Save The Mitchell’s Plain Town Centre” is one platform to highlight the problem. However, there is an urgent need to have an open indaba with all relevant role players to plot the way forward – failing which many of the existing retailers will eventually move out and follow the exodus of the big retailers, leaving the place to become another Cape Flats “ghost town” frequented by drug peddlars and criminals. We need all interested parties involved in future decision-making processes affecting the area and cannot allow significant changes to be made arbitrarily at the behest of the political oligarchy.

In the meantime, who is going to take responsibility for cleaning up the dirty sewerage system in Mitchells Plain Town Centre?