Hout Bay ward councillor Roberto Quintas, who was recently appointed as the mayoral committee member for transport, is eyeing another five-year term.
Hout Bay’s ward councillor, Roberto Quintas, of the DA, will be seeking a further five-year term when his constituents go to the polls for the municipal elections on Monday November 1.
In 2016, the DA took Ward 74 with 62% of the votes, followed by the ANC with 33.9% and the EFF with 1.4%. But two of the six voting districts in the ward - in Imizamo Yethu - are strong bastions of ANC support, pulling well in excess of 80% of the vote in 2016. Another voting district, in Hangberg, saw the ANC net 25.5% to the DA’s 68% in 2016.
Mr Quintas was recently appointed as the City’s mayoral committee member for transport (“Quintas gears up for a new chapter,” Sentinel News, August 27, 2021). He says he has set his sights on improving basic services in Hout Bay, calling them the “fundamental nuts and bolts of local government”.
Improving access to water and sanitation, electricity, waste removal and management, and the upgrade of essential services in all communities, both informal and formal, is one of his top priorities, he says.
“Many of our issues, such as stormwater channel overflows and sewage spills are as a result of the behavioural consequences of dumping and illegal connections and damages and vandalism, and I believe that working with communities around this awareness over the next five years, whilst implementing roads, water, housing and other infrastructural projects, will go a long way to seeing an improved standard of living for all residents of Hout Bay, as well as our natural environment,” he said.
Mr Quintas has been involved in the dune-management project and claims to have kept momentum on the Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg Phase 2 housing projects.
He says he has an “intimate understanding” of the ward’s various communities as well as their challenges and needs.
“I know who the key role players and stakeholders in the City and in the communities are, and I have a working, experienced knowledge of the systems of local government. I’m not afraid of challenges, I know what promises can be made, and believe that my reputation for being accountable, accessible and responsive will resonate with what the majority of our voters expect of their public representative.”