STATEMENT BY THE CITY'S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY, ALDERMAN JP SMITH
The City of Cape Town is well aware of the planned strike in the public transport sector for Wednesday, 22 February, as commissioned by Santaco.
We have rolled out a fully integrated operational plan in support of our South African Police Services, with a full deployment across the metropole.
Reasons given for the intended strike action include a dissatisfaction over increased fines and the continuous action of impoundments of minibus taxis.
It must be noted that such enforcement action is derived from legislation passed from national government more than a decade back and is nothing new. The City will continue enforcing such legislation in an effort to protect passengers and fellow road users.
With a concerted effort to protect related infrastructure and the safety of all citizens, maximum resources have been deployed over this period. Required budget allowances have been authorised to bring additional staff on board in an overtime capacity, with a heavy armed presence at each of the Public Transport Interchanges, including Nyanga, Bellville, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Philippi East, Wynberg, Cape Town and Kraaifontein.
Undercover units will be monitoring strategic routes, with specially formulated response teams activated per area. Individual Joint Operation Centres (JOC) will be setup within each area, all coordinated from the main JOC in Goodwood.
Within this main JOC, all operational entities will be present including representatives from the various utility services, SAPS and various role players such as Golden Arrow Bus Services and MyCiTi.
The Traffic Service will also deploy towing services to each of the areas. Any attempt to blockade or obstruct any road or thoroughfare will result in immediate impoundment and arrest of such perpetrators.
All highways will be monitored by members of the Freeway Management System, with additional sources of CCTV patched into the JOC. Drone operations will be active, monitoring suspicious behaviour around any of the strategic areas.
A full deployment of members from both the Safety and Security Investigation Unit and Safety and Security Information Management Services have been deployed into each of the areas and will form an investigative and information gathering approach. Any incidents or acts of public violence that occur will result in criminal dockets being registered and a prosecution sought. These will be compiled and actioned directly by the investigative resource within the directorate.
While Santaco may reserve their Constitutional right to embark on a strike, such protest may not be done at the cost of infringing upon the rights of others. It is the responsibility of the organiser to ensure full control and order over any protest action and to ensure it is of a peaceful nature.
Should any incidents of violence or intimidation occur during this period, the City will immediately roll out a harsh enforcement plan as was previously seen both in Nyanga and Hout Bay, with focused enforcement and impoundments on members of the Public Transport Industry.
Further to this, the City will seek a civil claim for any damages, along with criminal charges against the organisers of the proposed protest action, leadership of Santaco and its members responsible.
Source: City Of Cape Town