Cape Town: Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis joined cleaning teams as the new 400-strong Highway Cleaning Unit of the City of Cape Town began duties along the metro’s highways, with major arterial roads and transport hubs. He was joined by Alderman Grant Twigg.
Reportedly, the new highway-cleaning teams will work in shifts from 07:00 a.m. to 08:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, to cover major arterial roads such as the N1, N2, M3, M5, R300, as well as other significant roads and transport hubs.
Considering this, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that he was glad to join the teams today as close to 400 new personnel began their cleaning duties along major routes across the Cape Town.
For the first time, the city now has a mass-cleaning unit dedicated solely to the main highways, arterial roads and transport hubs. This will help to up the frequency and intensity of the existing area cleaning efforts, by adding hundreds more cleaning boots to the ground.
According to Lewis, this unit will ensure a visibly cleaner city for residents and visitors using the metro’s major roads. It will also free up the City’s existing cleaning workforce to focus efforts elsewhere in the metro.
Lewis said that they are building a cleaner Cape Town that they can all be proud of, also in partnership with many ordinary Capetonians who show their civic pride by never littering, and by volunteering to bring about cleaner communities and public spaces.
A total of R88 million has been allocated to the highway cleaning initiative in 2025-26, with close to 400 new cleaning boots added to the ground, including 298 workers, 78 team leaders and 18 senior foremen.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Urban Waste Management – Alderman Grant Twigg said that the new Highway Cleaning Unit will also target known illegal dumping hotspots. A 24-hour toll-free number (0800 110077) has been set up for residents to report illegal dumping tip-offs in exchange for a reward where this leads to arrests. He encouraged residents to work with them to tackle illegal dumping.