The Speed Classic Cape Town motorsport event scheduled for this coming weekend is poorly planned and will seriously inconvenience approximately 100 000 residents who use the affected routes to travel between work and home.
One of the city’s busiest main access routes, Philip Kgosana Drive, will be closed from Thursday to Monday.
Cape Town ranks seventh among cities with the heaviest traffic congestion globally (2024 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard), and as it stands, roads in and around the city are a daily nightmare of traffic jams lasting several hours during peak times.
Closing some of the busiest access routes for five days demonstrates a callous disregard for the needs of tens of thousands of residents, particularly those from the southern parts of the city.
Residents from a vast area, stretching from Simon’s Town, around False Bay, the Cape Flats and even the Winelands, will be affected.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is not opposed to events providing the city with an economic boost, but the pros and cons should be weighed up against residents’ interests and needs.
The event could have been held somewhere else, where it would not drastically disrupt the lives of tens of thousands of people who need to travel to their workplaces, homes and elsewhere. There are more than enough alternative and suitable venues near Cape Town.
According to the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure, over 80 000 vehicles, transporting approximately 100 000 residents, travel along Philip Kgosana Drive (formerly De Waal Drive) every day.
This road and others set to be closed will have their traffic rerouted to alternative routes that are also congested during peak hours.
Ironically enough, a similar motorsport event in the city was abandoned in 1962 due to “higher traffic volumes” (Network24: “Heuwelren ná 6 dekades weer in Kaapstad gehou”, 15 October 2025).
So, approving it now makes no sense. The Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, and his administration are completely out of touch with reality and the traffic frustrations that thousands of Capetonians experience daily.
In addition, the city’s public transport system falls far short – from the MyCiTi bus network to the unreliable Metrorail – it offers commuters no viable alternative.
For many people, being late for work is not just an inconvenience, but a daily crisis. Making life even more difficult for them is unacceptable.
The Freedom Front Plus demands accountability. It is too late to relocate the event; but it simply cannot take place again – at least not where it disrupts the lives of so many people for such a long time.
The DA should put the people before prestige. Cape Town residents deserve better; they deserve leadership demonstrating empathy for their circumstances.
Freedom Front Plus Ideology: The party promotes Afrikaner nationalism and self-determination for minority groups.
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