The letter below to a City official about Rietvlei explains exactly the problem we have been having in Zandvlei. If one has a complaint or a query, one is shunted from official to official and department to department. The City needs to develope a holistic approach to managing the water bodies of Cape Town.

Angela Caroline Gray       #SaveRietvlei (Cape Town)
6h  · 
Dear Mr Killick,
I do not speak for MAC at this point, but as a private citizen of this City, and as an attorney. The insouciance evidenced by your reply below is callous.
You are responsible for a major environmental disaster that began in May.
This is not a problem of a lack of data. It is a problem of a lack of accountability. No one at the City has taken proper responsibility for this issue. Departments within the City act like they are independent of one another and point fingers at each other instead of dealing with the problem. If Caltex had caused the pollution event, no expense would have been spared in holding them responsible. A war room would have been established by the City to coordinate the response. The vlei would be a hive of activity. The relevant person at Caltex would have fallen on her sword and would have been held criminally responsible.
The fact is that the City has caused major environmental disasters at all of the freshwater recreational lakes in our City – not to mention further pollution events all along the seashore. "Woeful" does not even begin to describe the City's response over the last four months.
And yet, you have the gall to acknowledge receipt of MAC's letter more than a week after it was sent and to report that you are still investigating the source of the pollution. It took a team of MAC members a few hours to identify three sources of sewerage leaks and to confirm their suspicions with water tests. These sources were given to you weeks ago. In at least one case (Blaauwberg Rd), an interim solution of diverting stormwater to sewer would be simple and quick to implement. MAC has also supplied you with test results they procured showing that the problems are ongoing and you have still done nothing to address these issues. The City has still not provided information regarding the pump stations that was requested months ago.
The City has also done nothing to rehabilitate the areas that it polluted. There is still no equipment at Rietvlei to purify the water or to remove the polluted plants and soil. Algal blooms will result in further closures if something is not done. City officials are still thinking about how the area might be rehabilitated even though there are responsible people at the Reserve who cannot possibly have any more important job to do at this point. No steps have been taken to rehabilitate (or even maintain) the detention ponds that are Rietvlei's main defence against polluted stormwater.
The polluter pays principle is clear in our law and as citizens we are well within our rights to now employ third parties to take the necessary steps, such as installing pumps to divert stormwater, to purify the water in the lake, to rehabilitate the detention ponds and to remove the polluted plants and soil. We have collected commitments for the necessary funds, begun consulting with academics, assembled the necessary engineering expertise and established contacts with the companies that provide the services. There are precedents all over the country for citizens taking over municipal budgets to ensure service delivery and I have no doubt that the courts will make the relevant order. That the DA-run Cape Town is no better at delivering services than failed municipalities in the rest of the country is a story of universal interest in an election season.
This is the context in which you should prepare for your meeting tomorrow. If, following that meeting, we do not have a timetable from you that appropriately recognises your responsibility for a major environmental disaster, sets out concrete steps to stop the pollution and to immediately begin rehabilitation measures, as well as a commitment to taking disciplinary steps against those responsible for the event and the failure to properly address it, we will proceed to take the necessary steps ourselves. I will also be copying this correspondence to the WWF and urging them to terminate the lease with the City, which you have clearly breached by polluting their land.
In the interim, I hope that every City official on this email chain will reflect on the role they have played. The City is one entity. Neither the law, nor the citizenry recognises the internal departmental delineations that the City has chosen to draw. Those delineations were designed by the City to deliver services more efficiently. They cannot be relied upon to excuse a failure to deliver services. This is destroying lives and livelihoods and the environmental heritage we are supposed to be leaving our children. Too many times in the past, we have agreed not to pursue our remedies in an effort to work with the City, but the exchange below is evidence that the City is not genuinely engaging to resolve this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen