Cape Town - More than 20 vehicles were impounded during a crackdown by the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement division on public transport in Nyanga on Monday.
“This morning’s operation resulted in the impoundment of 24 vehicles after the drivers could not produce valid operating licences,” said the City’s JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
“Staff also recovered two stolen vehicles and executed eight warrants of arrest for outstanding traffic fines. One of those arrested was a taxi owner with 80 outstanding warrants”.
During a joint operation by various city law enforcement agencies and the South African police, officers served 99 warrants, issued 417 fines for various traffic offences and arrested one person for drunk driving.
“The volume of fines and warrants indicates that there is a serious issue with compliance in this area. We can take the hard-line approach and carry out ongoing enforcement operations, but that alone is not going to solve the problem,” said Smith.
The operation was the second such clampdown in Nyanga in recent weeks with Smith saying: “We needed to return to Nyanga based on the sheer volume of transgressions recorded during our last operation, but we also needed to send a clear message to those who think that they can intimidate our staff that we will not be deterred from enforcing the law”.
Smith was referring to death threats officers received during their work for on the previous operation, dubbed “Amaphela” which focused on sedan taxi operators in Nyanga .
“I have had assurances from the taxi association representing the Amaphela operators that the threats against our staff were made by some taxi owners in their personal capacity and that the association had no part in it,” said Smith.
Smith said he had set up an urgent meeting with the relevant taxi association to discuss various concerns and compliance with road traffic regulations.
ANA