What is even more shocking, is that there are way more speed cameras in the OTHER provinces. At least in my experience. Well, it does seem to get progressively worse on the other side of Mosselbay, with George having a significant number of yellow poles with boxes on top, but by far the most aggressive speed prosecution I’ve seen was in the Free State… which is also one of the provinces with the worst service delivery.
Also, on the N1 they use “average speed” with the cameras, so that sort of forces you to keep the average down. In my previous car, I could reset the “Average speed” on the dash, and that worked really well, I’d simply hit the button at each camera, and then drive such that the average was under 120km/h. Then I replaced the car, and the new one auto-resets the average speed when you start the engine. Completely freakin’ useless…
In my trip I spent the majority of my time in George, I just assumed it was the same all the way down to Greenpoint.
But I guess there is no need to deploy as many around CPT because some damn cyclist is going to do 15km/h infront of you the whole way up Constantia
Trust me, it is. Try and build in Cpt without plans, “o sorry” does not get one far. They can be very accommodating, and sometimes not so much.
Just had plans drawn up for a Granny Flat, man, the planners have to detail every teeny little bit, the R-Values too.X sqm, max Y sqm for windows.
But, I get it. If everyone here builds as they want, exceeded building lines, and whatnot, it can get messy.
Having said all the above, listening to builders building in like Khayelitsha, it is another world.
Like 2 story house, plans are in, but not approved yet. They are on the 2nd level already, inspector arrives, I hear you are building from some neighbours, here to check how it is going.
Look don’t get me wrong, I am all for doing things the right way.
It’s just crazy the low effort that you find at municipalities up here.
I recently wanted to build a new garage on my property, I phoned the municipality to get the current building plans of the house as a good starting point, they simply said: Sorry Sir, we lost them.
Just to give everyone more examples of the amazing service delivery we have up here.
I reported my water meter as broken (stuck at the same kl value)
Its been broken for 6 years now, they told me the other day to stop worrying about this, because they just charge a set usage of 20kl to all households with this problem…
Our water meter broke, emailed CoCT, they where here inside 24h. Meter replaced.
But then, got the monthly account, we owed them R10s of thousands, the reason, the meter reading of the broken meter, the way it is captured on the system.
So I emailed CoCT and got this awesome lady to help us. She even sent screenshots of what she is seeing, promising to sort it.
indeed, a double storey or house cum ‘hostel’ outbuildings in those areas mushroom without plans making a mockery of ‘building control’ [which, like tax, is only enforced on some] and the new ‘two dwelling units per erf’ ruling by the local saldanha municipality is a blessing for home owners looking for extra cash…
some years back the guys building the national road past hopetown volunteered to supply the one-horse town with a new main road - there is one but only a tank can traverse it without serious damage - in order to do this they needed water/electricity and sewerage plans - this could not be produced as not too long before a gender neutral pc appointee in charge of those documents decided they are waste and treated them as such - ergo, the road is even worse now as the contractors moved on…
EDIT
just checked on google earth, half of the main road has actually been paved - must have been rather recent - the rest is still in shambles…
In the Northern Cape? I was there. It is indeed more appropriately named HoleTown.
Bought some “slaptjips” from a Pakistani there. They were quite good. Lots of beggars hanging around in town. Not the nicest place to stop.
I had to use a restroom. The only one that remains is in the hotel, which has closed down. If you ask, they will unlock it for you. Inside, it’s like a haunted house, as you walk past the old bar where many a patron once quenched his thirst, the old kitchen where the stainless steel tables are stacked in a corner, to the old bathroom where the water permanently runs in a small trickle…
