No new taxi-related shootings have been reported on Wednesday, July 21 following a bloody spill on the streets of Cape Town in recent weeks.
According to the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, a report from the South African Police Services indicates that there have been no incidents of taxi-related violence since.
“We welcome the calm. Our residents deserve nothing less. It really upsets me that our citizens are not able to do the most basic things, like travel to work without worrying about being caught in a crossfire,” Fritz said.
The minister reiterated that the local government not going to accept the kind of violence experienced by communities over the past few weeks.
“We are not going to sit back and allow violence and criminality to terrorise our citizens. We would like to encourage the SAPS and all law enforcement agencies to continue to ensure our citizens are safe,” Fritz added.
Meanwhile, there has also been a significant increase in SAPS and law enforcement, with Premier Alan Winde calling for additional SANDF boots on the ground after more than 70 people were killed in taxi-related shootings since the beginning of the year.
Members of the Cape Town Highlanders deployed on 20 July 2021 to Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Samora Machel and held Vehicle Check Points in Delft in support of the #SAPS in curbing the ongoing Taxi violence in the Western Cape.#SANDF#JointOperationsDivision#JointOpsWesternCape pic.twitter.com/3efrnNw8Eb
— SA National Defence Force (@SANDF_ZA) July 21, 2021
The Premier also visited the Golden Arrow Bus Depot to meet with the management regarding the situation at hand. Golden Arrow has limited most of its services after a bus driver was shot in the face on Monday, July 19.
Im now at the Golden Arrow Bus Depot with Min. Mitchell to meet with the CEO and management regarding how we as prov. government can help ensure safety of commuters. I will be issuing a statement soon on some additional interventions we will be taking to keep commuters safe. pic.twitter.com/YvQ1Tirv9E
— Premier Alan Winde (@alanwinde) July 21, 2021
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Picture: Cape {town} etc gallery