Cape Town - Western Cape member of the executive council for community safety Albert Fritz has called for more measures to protect the drivers of e-hailing taxi services in the Cape Town area of Nyanga following an increase in attacks.
This week police warned drivers of Uber and Bolt (formerly Taxify) taxis of a rise in hijackings targeted at their vehicles in Nyanga, urging them to avoid the area.
The majority of these attacks reportedly take place at night. Delivery truck drivers and those driving their personal vehicles have also been urged to be cautious in hotspot areas including Govan Mbeki road in Philippi, Bristol and Sheffield roads in Browns Farm as well as the Klipfontein, Miller and Eisleben road in Nyanga and Crossroads.
“I have received reports of increased hijackings taking place in Nyanga," Fritz said in a statement. "It is my concern that we are seeing a form of crime displacement known as ‘type of crime’ displacement following the recent SANDF (South African National Defence Force) and SAPS (South African Police Service) joint operations."
Fritz said no part of Western Cape province should be off limits to anyone and urged the SAPS intelligence and detective services to urgently identify and arrest those involved in these hijackings.
"Both intelligence and detective services need to work together to ensure convictions of known criminals. I reiterate the city of Cape Town’s call for SAPS to make active use of the state-of-the-art Transport Management Centre to improve intelligence gathering and sharing,” he said.