The City of Cape Town’s Roads Infrastructure Management (RIM) Department is busy with urgent repairs along the southbound lanes of Jakes Gerwel Drive between Bofors Circle and the N2 highway in the vicinity of Bonteheuwel, due to illegal tunnelling.

The City says on Friday night, 23 October, it became aware of illegal digging by people suspected of living under the Bonteheuwel Bridge, just before the railway line.

The digging and tunnelling impacted the road surface of this section of Jakes Gerwel Drive, and the City has been on site the whole weekend to conduct the repairs.

Road users are advised to anticipate delays as the City has temporarily closed two lanes along this section until the repairs have been completed:

• Only two of the four southbound lanes of Jakes Gerwel Drive between Bofors Circle and the N2 highway are currently open to traffic.
• The repairs will be conducted this week, and during this time, commuters are advised that traffic flow will be severely impacted
• The RIM department has implemented the temporary closure of the two right-hand lanes on Sunday evening, 25 October 2026, and these lanes will remain closed until the road repairs have been concluded.
• Road users should anticipate delays and congestion along this section of Jakes Gerwel.
• If all goes as planned, the work should be concluded by the end of the week.

MMC Rob Quintas says it seems people have been digging out the sand under the Bonteheuwel Bridge to create space for living and sleeping.

He has appealed to road users to avoid this section of Jakes Gerwel on Monday 26 October, and to consider using alternative routes if possible.

“Traffic flow will be impacted given that we had to close the two right-hand lanes along this section. Best is to avoid Jakes Gerwel Drive if you can. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we are doing the repairs.”

Quintas has asked those who see people digging under bridges to report this immediately to the City’s call centre.

In 2024, a section of Jakes Gerwel Drive also had to be closed due to illegal “sand mining” activities under the Bonteheuwel Bridge.