Balls to the Wall: Geordin’s N2 Wall Appears to Be Election Spin

Mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis’ promise to build a wall to contain communities living along the N2 between Khayelitsha and Langa looks likely to be election spin after the Western Cape MEC for Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers today denied having been engaged in the so-called project.

In its capacity as the road authority under Roads Ordinance 19 of 1976, Simmers’ department would have to grant approval. But according to the MEC, in written responses to questions posed by Brett Herron MPL, the department has not been engaged regarding the proposal, has had no involvement in any planning, is not involved in any studies, and has not spent any funds on any work relating to the project.

When the Mayor included the wall in the adjustment budget tabled in Council in January, he described it as stretching from the Baden Powell Road intersection to Bhunga Avenue. That stretch of the N2 is almost, if not entirely, owned and under the authority of the Western Cape Provincial Government.

The Mayor allocated R114m to the wall… but on close inspection R107m of this money is allocated only in 2027/28. That’s not this financial year, or the next one, but the one after that. The remaining R7m presumably largely covers the costs of PR and spin this year.

If Simmers knows nothing it indicates that Hill-Lewis’ nose is in for a growth spurt.

Walling off the ghettoes is more fantasy than reality, certainly at this stage, with lots of energy devoted to the comms (in an election year) and none to actual planning.

The R114m that the Mayor has miraculously conjured for the project without taking the most basic step of engaging the landowner for permission would be better spent – and more effective in changing living conditions conducive to crime – by investing in upgrading the very communities they’d like to wall in.