Cape Town -
Three hours of persuasion is what it took to convince a council employee not to jump off a city building on Wednesday.
The worker, whose name was not released, was approached by a police hostage negotiator and talked out of jumping from the building on the corner of Wale and Long streets.
After the negotiations, the policeman brought the worker down to safety. The man had been sitting on a ledge at the top of of the building.
About 100 curious onlookers gathered to watch as the negotiator tried to convince the man not to harm himself.
An onlooker who said he works with the man said it was the second time the man had attempted to jump off the building this year.
Traffic had to be diverted, causing delays in the CBD as paramedics, police and firefighters arrived at the scene.
The man was taken away for medical treatment after he was brought down.
This incident was the second in the city this year after, another man had threatened to jump from the roof of the Civic Centre in January.
Spokeswoman Priya Reddy said the City of Cape town will investigate Wednesday’s incident.
“The city can confirm that a staff member threatened to jump from the city-owned building at 44 Wale Street, Cape Town.
“A police service hostage negotiator was able to talk him down safely and he has been taken away for medical treatment. As this is a separate city-owned building, we will investigate internally as well.”
Police spokesman Andre Traut was approached for comment but had not responded by the time of publication.
Cape Times