Cape Town - It was dark, there were no lights and they were running for their lives.
These are the words of tow-truck driver Bradley Potts who came to the aid of two separate drivers on Jakes Gerwel Drive last week near Mitchells Plain.
Potts arrived five minutes after the two drivers were forced to stop after driving over objects placed on the road.
“The one driver had already been mugged by the time I got there. He was forced to run home for help. He later arrived with his family. The lady had also made a run for it after seeing what had happened. Stones were being thrown at this time. It was dark with no lights,” said Potts.
He experienced this on the same stretch two months ago. His vehicle is still damaged.
On Wednesday, Ebrahim Davids was driving along the same section of Jakes Gerwel Drive when he drove over broken Vibracrete, which he believes was placed there to make him stop.
He was driving with his family at that time and the only thing going through his head was that he must not stop.
“I was driving behind a car which went boof. He had gone over the Vibracrete before me. I tried to avoid it but it was too late. We both just kept driving. Our cars were slowing down because our wheels had been punctured. I remember us rolling our windows down and saying to each other ’we must get to a safe place, we are not stopping’,” said Davids.
He said it was in a patch where it was dark there was no lighting. Davids added that something needs to happen now, not after someone has died.
Admin for the Facebook group Jakes Gerwel Drive, Ridwaan Nero, said there had been about 17 incidents over the past month.
“This is not a personal attack on any of the entities, this is a service delivery problem. My main concern is let’s put things in place that can safeguard people and officers responding. Lights on that road should be a priority,” said Nero.
They had been seeing five to six incidents a week, he added.
However, the City says 18 incidents were recorded between July 1 and December 8 on the stretch of Jakes Gerwel Drive between the Duinefontein Road bridge and Highlands Drive.
“This includes six motor vehicle accidents, seven pedestrian-vehicle accidents, two assault cases, one report of suspicious persons, one report of a suspicious motor vehicle and one incident of reckless and negligent driving,” said Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith.
He said law enforcement services conducted patrols in as many of the hotspot areas around the metropole as their resources allowed.
“However, given the varying demands on our staff, it is not possible to have a dedicated presence at all hotspots all of the time. Also, our deployment is based on crime statistics and patterns. It is therefore imperative that motorists report incidents to their nearest police station because enforcement responses cannot be activated if the services are not aware that the problem exists,” said Smith.
Smith added that CCTV surveillance teams were tasked with monitoring the area and requesting assistance from all available City resources if an incident is detected – this includes direct radio communication with SAPS.
He said these incidents were also common along the N2 and R300.
In the last financial year (July 2019 – June 2020), the Metro Police Department assisted 2 450 motorists stranded on the City’s highways.
Councillor Phindile Maxiti, the City’s Mayco member for energy and climate change, said the City was looking at improving the lighting along the road.
“Reinstating the vandalised lighting infrastructure on this road has been prioritised. However, general crime, vandalism, destruction of property and illegal connections are negatively impacting on public lighting in this area.
“Due to the attacks on staff and the need for security or law enforcement to accompany staff, there are delays in fixing individual street light outages. The City is looking at all possible options to assist our communities,” said Maxiti.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said Jakes Gerwel Drive had been prioritised for policing and additional patrols were conducted to eliminate the risks associated with smash-and-grab incidents.
“We would like to use the opportunity to warn motorists to always be on the lookout for suspicious people or objects when travelling late at night or early in the morning, not only in this area but on all public roads,” said Traut.
Weekend Argus