The City of Cape Town launched its annual Festive Season Cleaning Programme this week, adding it would focus on particular areas around the metropole.
In a statement issued on Friday the City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate said the programme will focus on main arterial routes and high traffic scenic corridors, beaches and major tourism destinations, the CBD, public-transport routes and illegal dumping hot-spots across the metro.
“Cape Town sees a major influx in visitors, including our friends and family members, over the festive season,” said Grant Twigg, Mayco member for Urban Waste Management, “and we want to ensure our services are capacitated to manage the increased demand as far as possible. We are proud that this programme not only strengthens service delivery, and supports the tourism economy, but also directly creates thousands of work opportunities for Capetonians during this period.”
The department said this year’s programme delivers a significant boost to local employment, with more than 2 400 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) work opportunities created across the city. These include 2 048 general workers, 399 supervisors, 28 clerks and 20 community ambassadors, deployed to support intensified cleansing operations, it said.
To strengthen capacity at the highest peak of the festive season these teams will be supported by an additional 673 workers sourced via a labour broker for the peak six-week period from 1 December to 15 January, the department said.
This new initiative aims to maintain consistent service levels when demand is highest due to the influx of tourists and residents on festive leave. The flexible, targeted staffing model also helps ensure ratepayers continue receiving reliable services at the lowest cost possible, the department said.
