Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de Lille, has officially opened an inclusive new Human Settlements Contact Centre in Manenberg, which will provide local residents and the wider community with a broad range of services.
“This is not just another municipal office,” she said at the opening ceremony. “It is a centre that aims to be part of the heart of the community.”
The modernised contact centre, situated at the corner of Vygiekraal Street and Lansdowne Road, has more staff than its predecessor and will manage the City of Cape Town’s housing rental stock and dwellings purchased through the City, as well as providing administrative support to ratepayers.
People will be able to access the City’s service hotline; make enquiries about the housing database, tenancy matters, service and rental accounts; pay municipal accounts and traffic fines; purchase prepaid electricity and apply for services, rates rebates and indigent benefits.
Speaking at the launch, the Executive Mayor said she was proud to open the centre, which will “foster inclusion, opportunity and efficiency” and “act as a beacon of our commitment to leading Cape Town’s social development.”
“It will be a place that helps put the needs of the poor at the forefront of our service delivery programmes.”
She also announced that 267 rental stock units will be transferred to assist people in becoming homeowners. Those who qualify will either get their units for free or at a considerable discount.
Those with rental arrears were urged to come forward and become part of the City’s greater debt management scheme, where those who meet the criteria can qualify for rates rebates.
De Lille urged community members to report drug activities, to clear out drug dealers from the City’s rental stock.
The centre was designed in a holistic manner, embracing the principles of being green and sustainable, as well as taking into account the problems of crime and vandalism which affected the previous location.
“This modernity is a representation of Cape Town projecting itself as the African city of tomorrow, today. Manenberg is therefore at the heart of our efforts to take the city forward into this future… let this centre be a physical reminder of that commitment and of our bond with the people of Manenberg,” De Lille said.
