Residents say the Bellville CBD is fast becoming a slum - and they're livid. During a Cape Argus visit, dirt, faeces and other waste lay scattered across a road near the main transport interchange, where hundreds of informal traders have set up shop. The traders sell everything from mattresses to beauty products and fast food, and operate from 4am until after sunset every day.
Most of them arrived in Bellville in the late s and rent flats above supermarkets and shops in the CBD. People don't loot our shops here and we make a lot of good business. That's why there are so many of us in Bellville. Richard Vermeulen, who stays in a flat off Durban Road, said the area was virtually already a slum.
He said Bellville had been one of the country's top towns two decades ago, but had become one of Cape Town's filthiest areas over the past decade. The stench is disgusting.
The council tries their best to clean up, but the next day it's just the same. Van Rensberg said drug-peddling and crime were two of the biggest problems. The foreigners have taken over Bellville. Drugs are a big problem. Residents claim that children as young as 12 are selling their bodies. The police have arrested a few people, but the problem persists. They just move further down the road, or hang around street corners off Voortrekker.
The ward councillor is Jefrey van Wyk. He said he had already started talks with the informal business owners about the state of the CBD and getting the area cleaned up. Van Wyk said that apart from the city solid waste department's regular clean-ups, volunteers were used to clean the CBD, especially around the main transport hub.
