Cango Cave still in full-swing says the Executive Mayor

Oudtshoorn, 28 July 2015 – The newly elected Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn Aldm Wessie van der Westhuizen says a totally wrong message about the status of the Cango Caves was sent out recently and that message must be corrected.

Aldm van der Westhuizen told the members of the local media who attended his special visit that the challenges facing the Cango Caves are not affecting the visitors. “The Caves are not collapsing and the Cave won’t close,” he said.

This was Aldm van der Westhuizen’s first visit to the Cango Caves within a week of his election as the Executive Mayor of the greater Oudtshoorn. Aldm van der Westhuizen was flacked by Councillors and the acting Municipal Manager Mr. Ronnie Lottering during his visit on Friday, 24 July 2015.

“A task team consisting of councillors and officials from the Caves will be established soon to work together with the Western Cape Provincial Government and National Government looking deeper into the whole situation and financial analysis of the Cango Caves.”

“The inner or rather the heritage part of the Caves belongs to national, the land in which the Caves have been built belongs to the Provincial Government and the building belongs to the Municipality that in itself says a lot about who the Caves belong to,” Aldm van der Westhuizen added.

The Mayor and his executive have over the past weekend gathered with senior management to devise a 100-days service delivery drive aimed at addressing urgent serviced delivery needs. Since Cango Caves forms part of the Municipal Capital and Operational budget, it would form part of the Mayor’s campaign.

Statement issued by Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe, Oudtshoorn Municipality’s Communication & Media Services, July 28 2015