MESSAGE FROM THE WARD COUNCILLOR
2026 has arrived, and I am sure that just as with me, the year has already swung into full steam for many of you as well. As your Ward Councillor, who is serving you in the final year of his second term in office, it must be said that is has been a tremendous pleasure and honour to be “Cllr Rob” for almost ten years.
Looking back at the year that has passed, 2025 was a bumper year for Hout Bay. The City of Cape Town continued with its extensive multi-year water pipe replacement program, and this large project with considerable budget and including kilometres of new pipes and pressure management infrastructure will see further additions and groundwork in 2026. The replacement program serves to provide newer reticulation systems that can cope with the steep topography of Hout Bay and as such mitigate some of the pressure build ups which have doggedly resulted in a “whack a mole” of joint and pipe bursts across the network.
The Ward 74 Committee has also served as one of the best performing of these structures in the City of Cape Town, holding regular meetings with much feedback and discussion around the big issues in our Ward regarding community, safety, environment and vulnerable persons, and which has fostered greater accountability and responsiveness to these sectors represented on that structure of local council. It has been a pleasure to chair these over the years, and I look forward to more co-operative governance interaction during the final year of this administration.
On responsiveness, I am pleased to report that the Ward 74 Service Request Group which comprises community representatives of Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu as well as Llandudno, Northshore the Valley and Longkloof and Scotts, Hughenden, Penzance and Beach Estates to name a few, continues to be instrumental in flagging large service delivery concerns in real time, and then distributing live time updates and communications from myself and the City of Cape Town to their local WhatsApp groups and networks along with Hout Bay Organized and Buzzer. All of these are valuable partners in ensuring I and the City are aware, and that their networks receive widely shareable and easily disseminated information so critical in keeping our communities informed.
Last year City wide saw the launch of the Neighbourhood Safety Officers. These dedicated Metro Police Officers along with our Law Enforcement and Traffic Police have ensured greater visibility, and faster response times all of which have in many ways brought down some crime and improved the sense of community security. These City agencies have an excellent relationship with our local South African Police Services as well as CCP and other safety and security organizations on the ground in Hout Bay & Llandudno, and which gives meaning to the City’s mantra of “Making Progress Possible, Together.”
Speaking of our service men and women, it would be remiss of me to not mention, and honour our City of Cape Town Fire Services as well as those of the SANPARKS Fire Rangers and the Wildfire Volunteer Firefighting Corps, all of whom have served our communities with distinction in fighting some severe blazes in and around our communities both last year and already now in 2026.
2025 and going into 2026 there have also been further improvements to various parks in Hout Bay as well as the further installation of the Valley Road non-motorized transport corridor for walkers, runners, cyclists, horse riders, and those in wheelchairs having a safer journey out of the roadway. The Christmas lights installation has also been a growing feature for our Bay, one which has delighted locals and visitors and which I hope to see one day grow all the way up Victoria Avenue to the top of Suikerbossie!
We can also look forward this year to an upgrade of the Hout Bay Beachfront which will include brick paving and resurfacing of sidewalks, additional benches as well as hard and soft landscaping with some mosaic details.
All of these improvements and additions to the great work in progress that is Ward 74 have resulted in ongoing increases in a buoyant and in-demand property market, which is in of itself an “independent” barometer of the desirability of Hout Bay and shows that despite some very real challenges, Hout Bay remains a place that people want to live in, raise their families, and enjoy good and accountable service delivery as well as the many excellent features of our Bay. Its active and involved community structures. Its excellent restaurants and hospitality. Retail and business convenience. And just being a “lekker place to be.”
I would like to thank you all for the near ten years of support and kindness shown to me as your Public Representative. It has been the honour of my life to serve our Ward 74 Family and I look forward to continue serving you all in 2026.
Yours in service,
Cllr Rob Quintas