Cape Town - The police and transport ministers have vowed to intervene and act on the City’s call to establish a dedicated unit to investigate the ongoing attacks on public transport and its commuters in the Western Cape.
This after a public outcry over the ongoing robberies and attacks on Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs), with commuters and activists blaming the bus company management for allegedly failing to protect their commuters when they board their buses.
Police Minister Bheki Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said Cele would be meeting Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula to further discuss interventions to assist the City. Themba said Cele stressed that there should be a collaborative effort from both the government and the City in the interest of commuters.
Transport mayoral committee member Felicity Purchase said the police were responsible for crime prevention, investigation and arrests. However, they had seen few, if any, successes related to the ongoing attacks on public transport infrastructure and assets, and the robbery of commuters.
In November last year, Gabs reported to the legislature that more than 200 of their buses were attacked every month and six to eight robberies were committed weekly, either on Gabs buses or at stations and stops where commuters were waiting to board buses.
“Every attack leaves commuters and bus drivers and other personnel severely traumatised. Some are killed, some sustain injuries and some lose hard-earned money and valuables. They commute in constant fear for their lives,” said Purchase. She said the City was doing all it could with its limited resources and budget to ensure the safety and reliability of the services under its management.
“I can confirm that we are negotiating with Gabs about a dedicated unit to assist with the safety of commuters and bus drivers. The agreement will determine when this unit will be deployed, and how many law enforcement officers will be assisting, subject to budgetary provisions and operational imperatives,” she said.
A few days ago, the Ukubavimba Foundation, a social justice and socio-economic development organisation lodged an official complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission on behalf of all victims – passengers and bus drivers – who had been robbed aboard the buses.
Meanwhile, Cosatu in the Western Cape also had a marathon meeting with Gabs management to discuss bus safety.
Gabs spokesperson Bronwen DykeBeyer said the company had made its concerns regarding these incidents known to the national Department of Transport, provincial and national Commissioners of Police, the provincial Department of Transport and the standing committee on transport and public works, as well as other relevant government entities.
“While Gabs recognises that it has a role to play, the primary responsibility for ensuring public safety falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the police,” said Dyke-Beyer. She said along with their passengers and staff, the company was the victim of criminal behaviour – not the perpetrator. “We do feel that continuously shifting the responsibility for crime prevention on to a private company is simply a convenient way to ignore the failure of the authorities to carry out their constitutional mandates.”
ANC provincial spokesperson for community safety Mesuli Kama said the safety of commuters who use Gabs had been on the spotlight for decades, and the company was just not showing enough commitment to resolve the problem. Kama said a number of drivers had fallen victim to the crimes perpetrated by gun- and knife-wielding criminals who were targeting buses.
“The provincial government needs to apply pressure on the company to improve safety of commuters, and the company should take initiative to install CCTV cameras and to link its wi-fi connectivity to the Western Cape Government electronic access control services to make it easy to report security issues when they occur.”
He said the City was wrong to call for police intervention; they should first deploy their law enforcement officers to provide security in buses before approaching the ministers.
Cape Argus