Cape Town – Police have managed to stop a group of protesters from disrupting traffic flow on AZ Berman Drive in Mitchells Plain this morning, while various protests in the Cape Town metro have disrupted traffic flow.
“There are reports of tyres alight on the R300 towards the N2, with the road closed at the Stellenbosch Arterial,“ said the City Traffic Service’s Maxine Bezuidenhout.
“In Atlantis, Old Mamre Road is closed in Dassenberg and Silverstroom roads. In Kraaifontein, Old Paarl Road remains closed at Maroela Road.
“In Heideveld, the Duinefontein northbound has been closed between Ascension and the N2.“
In Steenberg, Millitary Road is closed at the railway crossing. In Eerste River, the R102 has been reopened in both directions between Plein and Buttskop.
Western Cape Traffic Chief Kenny Africa said the protests have not disrupted traffic flow on major routes such as the N1, N2 and N7.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said: “We are deploying all our available staff to respond to any public violence.
“We respect the right to protest, but it cannot be violent or deny others access to get to work and emergency vehicles, especially if you haven't bothered to go through the process in the regulations.”
Fadiel Adams, of the Cape Coloured Congress and presssure group Gatvol Capetonian, said they would be shutting down major roads across the city between 5am and 11am, with communities from at least 15 areas on the Cape Flats taking part.
Explaining the reasons for the protest, Adams said in a video on social media last night: “We will be shutting down the Cape metro and other areas.
“We will be shutting down because of the lack of opportunity for coloured people. We will be shutting down because they are victimising our teachers.
“We will be shutting down because of the RDP housing they are building. We are shutting down because they closed down a structure in Hout Bay and called it an illegal structure, but then you put up illegal ones in Manenberg, that is the City of Cape Town.
#Roadclosure #ProtestAction R300 closed between Stellenbosch-Arterial and Van Riebeeck Rd. Due to protests. Please be careful use alternative routes... @BOSBEER2006 @1SecondLater @EWNTraffic @netstartraffic @SALTruckers @SAPoliceService @BokRadio @capetraffic pic.twitter.com/dNX2XfXhpl
— BOSBEER.COM (@BOSBEER2006) July 27, 2020
“We will be shutting down because the ANC doesn’t have the political will to combat gangsterism and drugs. We will be shutting down because of coloured marginalisation.
“We will be shutting down because we are letting you know we have an identity and it’s time we claim it.
“We will be shutting down because we don’t want JP Smith to be our Mayco member for safety and security and I don’t know why he is still in a job because he should’ve been fired about what they did in Hout Bay…
“We will be shutting down because the coloured people say no, no more to victimisation, no more to marginalisation.
“We are full and active citizens of this country, we are the original owners of this province, you will learn that on Monday.”
IOL