Concern over voter safety as gang, taxi violence flares in Cape Town ahead of election day - News24

With just days to go before voting in the municipal elections, gang and taxi violence has flared in Cape Town, meaning that for voters in affected areas the decision is not simply who to elect as leaders, but also whether they can get to a voting station and return home safely.

This was pointed out by community activist and pastor Charles George, who was addressing residents of Delft on Wednesday after taxi violence erupted in this part of the Cape Flats.

“It doesn’t make sense, why people must put their lives at risk,” said George, who has worked within the Delft community for twenty years.

On Wednesday, there was a shooting at the Palm Taxi Rank, a major public transport interchange in Delft. Two men were shot and were taken to hospital.

The taxi rank is situated next to Sunray Primary School, a key voting station for Ward 24. Earlier this week, there was another shooting at the same taxi rank, where one person was gunned down.

Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Mfuleni have also been affected by taxi-related shootings. At the same time, gang violence has flared up.

On Saturday evening, five people attending a braai in Lavender Hill were gunned down, including the son of a local community worker.

While these are not politically motivated killings, they affect voters’ sentiments about whether or not they are able to cast their votes in peace.

As the local government elections draw closer, George said conversations with community members revolved around whether they could make it to the voting booth safely on 4 November.

For George, the question was: “Where is the army?”

Delft is one of the areas in Cape Town that are included in Operation Prosper, a year-long deployment intended to assist the police in fighting crime and dismantling organised crime networks.

While the deployment is seen to be a force multiplier, questions have been asked about its effectiveness, especially with the increased shootings.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) provincial electoral officer, Michael Hendrickse, told News24 the commission was engaging with the provincial South African Police Service (SAPS) in preparation for the polls.

Hendrickse said that the IEC and SAPS had a long-standing relationship and, along with other law enforcement agencies; the SAPS “plays a critical role in ensuring safety and security during elections”.

“SAPS has assured the IEC that it is assessing high-risk areas as part of its preparations to ensure a safe and secure environment for South Africans to exercise their democratic right to vote,” said Hendrickse.

READ | Operation Prosper deserted? Soldiers MIA as Cape Town gang violence spirals out of control

The IEC was working with the police and would respond to developments as they occurred.

“We remain concerned about any incidents of crime that could affect voters’ ability to access voting stations and cast their ballots,” said Hendrickse.

The priority, Hendrickse said, remained ensuring that voters can exercise their right to vote in a secure environment.

ActionSA, which has been campaigning in places affected by gang violence, said it had raised safety concerns with the IEC.

The head of communications for ActionSA’s campaign in the metro, Anslin Gysman, told News24 the party had put in place measures to ensure the safety of not only voters, but also party volunteers.

The party, he said, factored in flare-ups of violence.

Gysman said the party was intentional about developing communication strategies and guidelines to ensure safety issues can be escalated straight from voting stations to the party’s operations centre, from where the police would be contacted directly.

“We are also triaging high-risk areas to potentially deploy private security to ensure the protection of all our volunteers and candidates accordingly,” he said.

The ANC in Cape Town, via a statement, said the violence occurred at a “critical moment” when matriculants were writing their final exams, and voters were set to go to the polls in local government elections.

“The ANC Dullah Omar region warns that this violence has a direct and corrosive impact on the upcoming elections,” said the party, adding that the primary victims of the instability were working-class commuters who relied on public transport.

“If left unchecked, this violence will intimidate voters and undermine the democratic right of our people to participate freely in the elections,” said the ANC.

On Thursday morning, the SAPS held a briefing on the violence in the city.

The City of Cape Town safety and security commissioner Johan Brand said the City’s law enforcement officers would fully support the SAPS during the elections, including the two days of special voting on Monday and Tuesday.

Regarding the taxi violence, the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Sizakhele Dyantyi, said the increase was linked to route disputes between rival taxi associations.

“From our side, we are consolidating the operational response,” he said. This included tapping into specialist resourcing, intelligence operations, working with law enforcement and ensuring citizens were safe.

Dyantyi gave a stern warning to those who were stirring violence: “They will be dealt with harshly.”

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