Cape Town – With the growing belief that Baden Powell Drive – along the seaside between Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Strandfontein – has become a dumping ground for murdered people, Mayor Dan Plato said on Monday the City of Cape Town has a plan to combat this.
Community Policing Forums in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain have called on law enforcement officers and the police to conduct regular patrols along Baden Powell Drive following the discovery of at least seven bodies since March.
Plato told Cape Talk on Monday that he had asked City officials to put together a proposal on improving lighting along the 25km stretch of road. There is also a chance they could be installing CCTV cameras at hot spots.
"We make regular efforts to replace and increase the number of street lights, particularly in hot spots, but we've had to deal with recurring cable theft.
"We hope to put in high-mast lighting as a lasting deterrent and are assessing the feasibility of this,“ Plato said.
The body of a woman with gunshot wounds to the head and body, believed to be around 30 years old, was found two weeks ago.
Hours after the discovery of her body, a 30-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the head along Baden Powell Drive, Khayelitsha. He was rushed to hospital.
The incidents came just over two weeks after the police discovered the decomposing bodies of a woman and a man in the bushes on Baden Powell Drive, Mitchells Plain, at the end of last month.
Mitchells Plain CPF chairperson Abie Isaacs has noted with concern that “people are committing crimes outside our police precinct and dumping them in our areas”.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz has requested a report from the provincial police commissioner regarding such incidents, calling for an SAPS plan to address this trend.
Plato said that he had requested that the SAPS properly investigate the incidents.
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