The City of Cape Town has announced that the Table View Beachfront will officially be a designated site for the discharging of fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day.
This comes amid an uproar among residents about the safety of the site. In recent weeks, residents have raised their concerns about the designation of the area near the old tourism building as a suitable site as it does not comply with certain safety requirements outlined by the City.
Speaking to TygerBurger today, Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith, says after exhausting all options they were only left with one viable option. Following a meeting with ward councillors Nora Grose and Nicky Rheeder and officials, Smith says the site used last year was the only suitable site. The team discussed alternative sites like the Killarney Race Track but Smith says the venue will not be available on Saturday 5 November.
He says they considered the option of having no designated site in Table View but a variety of factors make this impossible.
“Last year there was an estimated 7 000 people on the night and Guy Fawkes was during the week. This year it falls on a Saturday and we expect about 20 000 people so the option of having no site is not an option.”
He says while Killarney may be a possible venue in the future, officials will still have to conduct various risk assessments.
“We will try to have Killarney as a site for fireworks on New Year’s Eve but for Guy Fawkes Day we will use the same site as last year.”
The City is expected to release a statement with all the details later today.
