Residents in Kensington and Factreton are calling on the City of Cape Town to urgently address the mowing backlog in their area, citing safety and health concerns.
Shameega Opperman lives in Acre Road opposite a veld leading to the Century City railway station. She says the grass “has never been this long”.
Opperman says a veldfire broke out recently, a concern they as residents now constantly fear amid the fire season.
“The grass opposite us was on fire, then, just a few days before that, we had an encounter in our driveway with a tarantula-like spider. It is terrible and hazardous. I have never seen a spider that big. This is one of the longest periods that the grass has been so long. It is now summertime, so you find all kinds of creatures coming onto our property.”
She adds: “I usually take my dog and my kids for a walk in De Havilland Park. In the park, the grass is also long. Someone recently commented that there was a snake in the park. If they maintain the grass, you won’t find these kinds of things. My husband has allergies so it is affecting him badly as well.”
Isaac van Wyk believes the uncut grass is a safety risk for women and children.
“I am a pensioner. Early in the morning, my wife and I take a daily walk and the long grass is a safety risk because you cannot see who hides behind a bush. There are women who have to walk to the station alone in the morning and criminals now see this as an opportunity to target people. Not only the safety concerns but it also just doesn’t look nice.”
Van Wyk calls on the City to intervene.
“It is a huge fire risk, especially on hot days. There are many children in the area loitering around and with the grass not being cut, they see it as an opportunity to set it alight.”
The City says mowing services have been affected by an ongoing appeal related to a mowing tender.
It says, to meet the growing demand for mowing of public open spaces in the city, the City’s Recreation and Parks Department has facilitated an interim Request For Quotation (RFQ) process, which allows qualifying service providers to assist with grass-cutting and mowing until such time as the tender appeal process is finalised.
Multiple mowing RFQs under R200 000 to address urgent priorities have been advertised and are currently in the adjudication process.
Patricia Van der Ross, the Mayco member for community services and health, explains that the process is still underway.
“Multi-disciplinary teams are currently scoring, vetting and compiling contracts as advertisements close. The department is working towards completing all administrative processes necessary to appoint contractors by December.”
Van der Ross says, in addition, the Recreation and Parks Department has finalised a bulk RFQ process with the assistance of supply chain management (SCM), on a month-to-month basis, until such time as the tender appeal process has been concluded.
She says internal area teams are currently at work, reducing the backlog as an interim solution until contractors are deployed. Once the administrative processes are complete, multiple contractors will supplement mowing resources to the full capacity needed.
“This is not a once-off process with all contractors appointed simultaneously. Appointments are made one at a time as contractors are evaluated through various stages, including supply chain and legal. Successful contractors are awarded contracts once they meet all of the requirements and are then assigned work in a particular area.”
According to Van der Ross, the RFQs will allow them to use community-based vendors to help address the backlog and respond effectively to service requests from communities across the Metropole.
She says the department’s service delivery model for mowing is currently based on a ratio of 70% of the function being outsourced versus 30% done through internal capacity.
Responding to queries, Van der Ross says Kensington was one of the first neighbourhoods to be mowed in mid-August by an internal team.
“Unfortunately, thus far community-based vendors evaluated for Kensington were unsuccessful as they did not have COIDA (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act) insurance. We are still awaiting further results from other submissions in the hopes that some will meet all of the necessary criteria.”
She says time frames for the next mow can’t be determined at this stage.
