The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) laments the decision by Drakenstein Mayor, Stephan Korabie, to block the party’s motion requesting that the Municipality engage with the Cape Winelands District Municipality and the Western Cape provincial government to discuss trucks misusing the Bainskloof Pass.
According to the Mayor, the motion is inaccurate and Bainskloof falls outside Drakenstein’s jurisdiction as it is a provincial road.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, the response is short-sighted and incompatible with the responsibility to protect a national heritage route.
Although the Pass technically does fall outside municipal jurisdiction, nothing prevents the Municipality from engaging with the provincial government to protect this national heritage route, which forms part of UNESCO’s Cape Winelands Route.
Trucks frequently use the Bainskloof Pass as a shortcut between Wellington and Ceres, despite being prohibited from doing so.
Trucks frequently get stuck at the Pulpit, where sharp bends and an overhanging rock formation form a hazardous obstacle with no way to turn around. Between 2023 and 2025, 57 incidents have already been reported, resulting in road damage, erosion and hours of traffic congestion.
“Gawie se Water”, an important part of the heritage area, is also being increasingly jeopardised due to rituals, too many vehicles parking there, obstructing roads, and illegal fires. In 2022, an unattended fire that was not put out resulted in a much larger fire that caused significant damage.
In its motion, the Freedom Front Plus requested that the provincial and municipal authorities collaborate to prevent trucks from using the Bainskloof Pass.
The party also called for stricter enforcement at “Gawie se Water” to prevent pollution, excessive parking and fire risks, and protect the Pass’s heritage status.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep the pressure on until this route and environment are protected as they ought to be.
FF+ Manifesto on Defence: Maintaining a strong and effective defence force.
twitch
I cannot see a comment section underneath a page on MyZA that I really find benefit from – https://myza.co.za/sa-news-headlines/ – so wanted to post a thank you here under this article if you do not mind at all. Iff my thank you is not appropriate please do delete, I will not be offended.
Dez
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty improbable guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.