City of Cape Town given until Tuesday to respond to former walking bus project member’s demands

People working on the Walking Bus Project gather at the Cape Town Civic Centre to hand over a memorandum of demands after they claim to have been promised formal employment contracts with benefits Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)

People working on the Walking Bus Project gather at the Cape Town Civic Centre to hand over a memorandum of demands after they claim to have been promised formal employment contracts with benefits Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Feb 7, 2022

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Cape Town - Following a meeting with mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on Friday, members of the former Walking Bus project have given the City until Tuesday to respond to a list of their demands.

Failing this, the members have threatened mass action during the State of the Nation Address (Sona), scheduled to take place in the city hall on Thursday.

They are demanding that the City initiate a similar project for the Walking Bus to accommodate members that won’t qualify to be safety officers.

They are also demanding payments of their stipends dating back from the reopening of schools, better personal protective equipment (PPE), and education and equipment for the members.

The City’s announcement of the new Facility Protection Officers and security escort initiative and the end of the Walking Bus project raised a furore among the founding members.

It resulted in close to 200 members from the 70 areas where the project was implemented, demonstrating in front of City offices demanding a meeting with Hill-Lewis.

The City said the groups were previously communicated with about the end date of the Walking Bus project and denied it was disbanding it.

The City said the new safety project aimed to professionalise the former walking bus programme, giving qualified applicants better security training and equipment, and a broader scope of duties in the community.

Nazeema Abrahams, from Mitchells Plain Walking Bus, said founding members of the project were seniors not qualified for the initiative that the mayor had put on the table.

“Most of us have been doing this walking bus for many years, even before the City initiated the project. When the City came in 2016/17, through former mayor Dan Plato, he ensured we received a stipend because he saw our hard work,” she said.

Heideveld Walking Bus supervisor Vanessa Adriaanse said that after the meeting with Hill-Lewis they would convene a meeting in anticipation of the City’s.

“During our engagement with the mayor, he made it clear that the Walking Bus is going nowhere and that there was never a discussion over the age limit requirement on the new law enforcement unit.

“He also assured us that the existing and the founding members of the Walking Bus will be the first to get the opportunity on the upcoming project.

“However, if they don’t come back to us, we will flood the city hall, in thousands, as we are currently mobilising our communities,” she said.