There are 32 candidates vying for the position of councillor in Ward 54.
The ward includes Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, Bakoven, Clifton, Fresnaye, Oudekraal, Robben Island, Sea Point, Signal Hill and Three Anchor Bay.
The Democratic Alliance’s Nicola Jowell is the present ward councillor. She has worked in community safety for 11 years as part of the neighbourhood watch and went on to chair the Cape Town CPF.
“My approach has always been to get involved and to get active as that is how you grow community and affect change. This led me to being more involved in civic issues and to move towards standing for office in 2019. My approach is to treat others as I would like to be treated through respect, with strong communication and feedback and to tackle the issues on the ground with the community. I have also shown that I am going to tackle the bigger issues too with the fight to get the off street parking requirements reinstated this year. I am a firm believer in building partnerships as together we can do so much more,” said Ms Jowell.
The ANC candidate is Thandi Tyalana whose vision is to be the, “social bridge that unifies our common aspirations, for shared inclusivity, development and prosperity”.
Ms Tyalana believes that tourism and hospitality will be a major driver to create immediate jobs as well as help business owners and property developers.
“I will have an open door policy to assist my ward members with the most pressing needs of the community. I plan to drive job creation for youth and safety of lives and security of property for all who live in and around Ward 54. These are just a few of my targets upon commencement if elected,” she said.
Paul Jacobson is the candidate for The Freedom Front Plus and says the DA has failed the Atlantic seaboard.
“Our ocean is polluted with sewerage, litter is sprawled all over our sidewalks and on our beaches, our women and children are not being protected, our visitors and tourists are being harassed and mugged, our destitute are left to die on the street in the most undignified way, taxi drivers wreak havoc on our main roads, and our rate payments for our properties are highly inflated and not in line with the true evaluations,” Mr Jacobson said.
“I must unite our various role-players together – SAPS, our CID, our SFB and other community leaders, hold the City and their law enforcement agents accountable on their mandate and to enforce the by-laws and laws, promote heavily and regularly the concept of giving with dignity, giving responsibly.”
From the GOOD party, Carlos Mesquita says that homelessness is a major challenge that he will take on.
“For too long, the public in the Atlantic Seaboard has merely been told all is under control and for too long they have just donated to the causes that seemed to be keeping homelessness under control. Affordable housing, transitional housing are other discussions that Sea Point has to have. If we don’t address these issues more people are going to end up homeless,” said Mr Mesquita who was homeless for four years.
“Another issue is crime: if we go back to persecuting the homeless about where they sleep then they will start going back into hiding on the mountains and the cliffs, so it will impact directly on other statistics. For example, when in hiding, their skarrel is negatively impacted on and soon a crime will be committed to survive that day.”
