A Mitchells Plain ward councillor believes the mistakes made by the government in the Central Line Recovery Plan could have been prevented.

His comments come as the completion of the Central Line could experience some delays.

The Housing Development Agency has submitted a participation process application to the City Council.

It wants to move a group of people who are occupying the Langa train tracks to the Mitchells Plain area.

Once the Council has given the application the green light, residents will still have to share their views on the matter.

Councillor Elton Jansen says it was wrong to exclude the affected residents in the first place.

“So if we had had all stakeholders, councillors, decision-makers around the table to identify proper land – we could’ve come to a conclusion. Yet, people made a decision. They’ve identified land without consulting the councillor [and without] getting to know what the local dynamics are in the community.”