The City of Cape Town has threatened to flatten the makeshift pump park on a Table View greenbelt because no permission was granted for its construction but residents say the park has been a friendly safe spot for teenagers to have fun during lockdown.
The City of Cape Town’s threat to flatten a makeshift pump track in Table View has angered residents who say it was one of the few places teens could have fun during lockdown.
Dr Zahid Badroodien, mayoral committee member for community services and health, says the track poses a safety risk, and the City didn’t give permission for it to be built.
The pump track was built on the open greenbelt on the corners of Jannsen Road and Study Street - about a dozen mounds of sand have been covered with clay to serve as ramps for bicycle riders.
According to Table View resident Graham Hedgcock, there are about 70 teenagers, including his son, who enjoy using the track.
Last month their fun came to an end when City workers told them the ramps were to be flattened, although this has not happened yet.
“This group of boys put in hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and tears into the track. It was a safe environment, off the road in a quiet area for them to ride. They were not creating any mischief or vandalism,” said Mr Hedgcock.
Erroldean van Niekerk, who lives close to the greenbelt, said that under level 3 lockdown the neighbourhood children had enjoyed riding the jumps.
“Parents would bring their children and sit on the grass, watching and having picnics. No one complained, the children got outside for some vitamin D, fitness and making friends.”
However, Dr Badroodien said the land belonged to the City.
“Due to the construction of the makeshift pump track being erected without proper planning, it currently poses a health and safety risk to users of the space, and a risk to the City for claims should a member of the public be injured. The department is happy to engage the community around this matter.”
Julia Hedgcock said watching the teenagers getting together to build the track was one of the nicest things she had seen during lockdown.
“Anytime you go there it’s full of kids having good clean fun; healthy fun. They cycle there with their spades, walk with their wheelbarrows and dig and build the ramps themselves. They’ve made friends, got fit and for those precious moments don’t feel the stresses that they, as kids, should not feel, but are most certainly being forced upon them in these times.”
The ramps and the greenbelt were neat and tidy, and there was never a piece of litter laying around, she said.
“The land is not maintained by the City and never has been,” she said.
She questioned why the City suddenly appeared to be interested in the greenbelt.
Dr Badroodien said the land was earmarked for future projects that were still in the “planning phase”.
Residents wanting to know what those projects were, he said, should contact their ward councillor or recreation and parks manager Nondumiso Magija at Nondumiso.Magija@capetown.gov.za or 021 400 2104 or Joy Bennett at Joy.Bennett@capetown.gov.za or 021 400 5131.