Minister of police, Bheki Cele has confirmed that there was a spike in crimes in the city during the taxi strike in Cape Town.
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Five people were killed while cars and infrastructure were damaged over eight days of violent protests.
The minister said that they had provided support to the metro by offering more resources to contain the situation which had provided criminals with an opening to commit offenses.
Cele said they had committed more resources to the metro to contain violent taxi protests and this provided an opportunity for criminals to strike.
Last week, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape provincial government, and the taxi industry reached an agreement, ending the eight-day-long strike, by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), over the impoundment of taxis.
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This came following a dispute over the interpretation of the laws used by the city to impound taxis after Transport Minister Sindi Chikunga said the City of Cape Town was using the wrong laws to impound taxis.
However, the transport minister’s claims were disputed by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and MMC for Safety and Security JP Smith.
While briefing the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on police on Wednesday, Cele said there was an upsurge in crime in Cape Town during the period of the strike action by the taxi industry when police were stretched to the limit during the strike,which effected many parts of Cape Town and the Western Cape.
However, he did not give more details, stating that these would be reflected in the next cycle of crime statistics.
Cabinet approved the calendar for the release of the quarterly crime statistics for the 2023/24 financial year.
In the most recent crime data released by Cele and SAPS, there was an increase in violent crime nationwide, including homicides and robberies.
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Hill-Lewis welcomes end to ‘entirely unnecessary’ taxi strike
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