Words: Abonge Chiya / GroundUp
About 200 activists, including people who live along the N2 in Cape Town, gathered along the Sea Point promenade on Heritage Day to oppose the municipality’s planned ‘N2 Edge’ wall safety project.
Little is known about what the N2 Edge wall will look like or where it will start and end. City officials have said vandalised boundary fencing will be rebuilt, lighting refurbished, and safety barriers put up around areas where children play. R115 million has been budgeted for the project over the next three years.
While public participation is yet to take place, there has been widespread opposition to the wall, including arguments that it will effectively hide poor communities from the view of residents and tourists on the N2.
Protesters said they do not believe the construction of a solid wall would stop criminal activities on that route. It would instead separate townships and hinder access.
‘We are trying to stop the DA-led government from building a wall along the N2 under the pretence of protecting the safety of those who live and are driving near the N2,’ said Nkosikhona Swaartbooi, Movement for Care coordinator.
‘It’s going to make us live as if we are prisoners,’ said Swaartbooi.
Esetu Babi from Khayelitsha’s Site C said she believes the City could be diverting the money it intends to use for the wall to other projects that could benefit communities. ‘We don’t have houses, toilets, and we live in a dirty place,’ said Babi.
Protesters marched from the promenade to the Tafelberg site. Housing organisations Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City recently won a decade-long court battle challenging the provincial government’s sale of the site. The sale has since been cancelled, and the site is earmarked to be used for government services and social housing.
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Luyanda Mthamzeli said, ‘The City tries to hide their failure to fix informal settlements. The wall is not necessarily to help our communities but to hide them from tourists that use the N2 and will ask questions about the two sides of the City.’
Also read:
Cape Town N2 concrete wall: City to proceed with R114m safety project
Picture: Abonge Chiya / GroundUp
