Construction is under way at De Beers Park in Somerset West, where new walkways are being built to connect with the park’s central pathways reinstated last year.
Construction activity that began in early September 2026 is now clearly visible at De Beers Park along Main Road in Somerset West.
Workers are building a new network of walkways through the park, with some sections already laid and others still being prepared. The new paths are intended to connect with the central pathways that were reinstated last year.
When I visited the park, work was continuing across several areas, with concrete edging being installed and sections of the paths filled with stone in preparation for the final surface. New planting is also being added alongside the walkways, including rows of rose bushes.
Building on the work already done
The latest construction follows a series of improvements made to De Beers Park over the past year.
In 2025, the park’s central pathways were reinstated, while a new picnic area and children’s play area were also added. Irrigation infrastructure was installed around the same time, with funding from the City of Cape Town through Councillor Norman McFarlane’s ward allocation budget.
The work now under way is focused on the walkways and surrounding infrastructure, extending the improvements already made to the park.
Fencing is not part of this work
The construction has also led to speculation that De Beers Park is now being prepared to be fenced off.
That is not part of the current project.
Speaking to HelderbergStuff, the Friends of De Beers Park said the work currently under way is focused on improving existing infrastructure. The group continues to raise funds towards fencing the park, with the aim of creating a space that is welcoming, safe and accessible to the community.
The group’s plan is for the park to remain open to the public during the day, with the gates securely locked at night for safety.
The park remains difficult to use
The effort to improve De Beers Park comes after years in which the centrally located public space has at times become difficult for the community to use, with homelessness and vagrancy affecting parts of the park.
The Friends of De Beers Park has been working towards reclaiming the space as a public park, with the improvements already made and the longer-term goal of securing the park forming part of that effort.
The challenge is that the problems affecting the park have proved difficult to shift for good.
Periods when homelessness and vagrancy ease are often followed by their return, while the park and its surroundings can become overgrown, filled with litter and uninviting.
I hope that the work now under way, together with the longer-term plans for the park, can help make De Beers Park a place the community feels comfortable using again.
