Cape Town's proposed 3m high, 8km security wall along the N2 Highway aims to curb crime but sparks debate over inequality.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
Not only has the City of Cape Town come under fire after allocating R114m in its adjustment budget for the N2 Edge safety project, but the Khayelitsha community has also voiced frustration over the city’s priorities.
When Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis made the announcement, he said the funding would go towards replacing and reinforcing a severely deteriorated security barrier along the N2, alongside a package of safety and community-focused interventions.
“This project will not only repair safety barriers, but also bring various safety improvements for communities along the N2.
“It is not fair that a small number of criminal elements are impacting the safety of hundreds of thousands of daily users of the N2, including commuters from Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Blue Downs, Eerste River, Mfuleni, the Helderberg, and neighbouring towns.
“The N2 Edge project will improve safety alongside the city’s beefed-up highway patrolling, with over 40 new metro cops deployed to the N2, backed by CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition, and digital coordination for rapid response to help motorists,” he said at the time.
A Khayelitsha community leader, a long-time resident of Site C since 1987, expressed strong opposition to a new City of Cape Town project, calling it “a bad thing”.
The individual, who requested anonymity due to fear of victimisation, cited the city's previous claim of lacking land for a necessary housing relocation project.
“The City of Cape Town told us they don't have the land to relocate the people, but now they have secured that kind of money to build that wall,” the leader stated.
They noted that despite growing up in Zola Square, Khayelitsha, since 1987, the city has not relocated a single person.
The leader finds the new development surprising and believes the money should instead be used to secure land and food to relocate people, as the city had previously claimed a lack of funds for that purpose.
In their view, this action demonstrates that the City of Cape Town “doesn't care about the people”. They suggested the city's priority is tourists, who bring in revenue, viewing the project as “a business to them.”
Despite residents' fading hope for relocation, the leader felt at a loss for words, having tried everything to secure the housing project.
“Residents are still hoping that the city is going to relocate the people, but I don't think that's going to happen,” they concluded.
Cape Town's proposed 3m high, 8km security wall along the N2 highway aims to curb crime but sparks debate over inequality.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
The aforementioned relocation is tied to the Southern Corridor Housing Development Project in 2018, which residents believe was supposed to benefit them, but has been previously denied.
“So this N2 thing, to me, I'm really frustrated as a resident of Site C, Khayelitsha. For instance, winter is around the corner, and each and every winter, we experience floods. When it's summertime, we experience fires.
“I really don't know what the city wants to do to the people. To my side, they only care about the white people… I must say that. They care only about the white people; you can even go to Cape Town (suburbs). You will never see the leakage of drains. You’ll never see that.
“But if you come to Khayelitsha, you'll see the leakage of drains, taps, even broken toilets… And even the temporary toilets, you know, almost like plastic ones, if you can go to Cape Town, you will see only those toilets when it’s an event, but here, in Khayelitsha, those toilets, I think, have been here more than 25 years or 30 years.”
Khayelitsha activist, Mbulelo Dwane, said that they vehemently reject the building of the wall along the N2 “as we’re of the strong view that crime on the N2 is nothing compared to crime in our streets every day, every hour, etc. Is the city willing to build a wall in every street of our township cause that’s where serious crime is?
“Local businesses are closing down cause they can’t operate cause of extortion, Councillor Lazola Gungxe’s killers aren’t found yet, and if the city is to build a wall along N2, it would be locking and blocking Lazola’s killers on the other side of the wall,” Dwane said.
“Young girls, grannies, women in general are being raped every day in these areas cause of non-operating street lights. e-Hailers are being hijacked all the time cause of the condition of our roads this side of the wall, and government vehicles also aren’t driving in our streets cause of crime.”
Khayelitsha activist, Mbulelo Dwane, said they vehemently reject the building of the wall along the N2.
Image: Supplied
Spokesperson for housing lobby group Ndifuna Ukwazi, Yusrah Bardien, added that the city's proposed N2 wall has been rightfully criticised as a bad idea and tone-deaf to the lived realities of the residents, “and once again prioritising tourism over the interests of locals”.
“The auctioning off of scarce publicly owned land to generate revenue that will allegedly be ring-fenced for service delivery, which the same residents are much in need of, is also a bad idea.
“State land should be leased via long leases or released to small-scale developers and communities for housing construction. The city must look for alternative sources of revenue rather than selling off public assets that ultimately belong to all residents of Cape Town.”
In a statement, GOOD Party Councillor Siyabulela Mamkeli said that while the safety of motorists on the N2 is non-negotiable, it should never be weaponised to criminalise poverty or strip people living in informal settlements of their dignity.
“Crime along the N2 and across the Cape Flats is the direct consequence of decades of spatial injustice, economic exclusion, and state neglect, and it requires decisive political will and coordinated action across all three spheres of government.
“Instead of addressing deep service delivery backlogs in Kanana, Barcelona, Europe, and surrounding informal settlements, the city has opted for divisive and cosmetic interventions that prioritise image management over meaningful change,” Mamkeli said.
“Cape Town's transport and railway systems were deliberately designed under apartheid to segregate communities rather than promote integrated urban mobility.
"The N2 wall is a continuation of this racist spatial logic - a physical barrier intended to hide poverty from tourists travelling between the Cape Town CBD and Cape Town International Airport, while leaving residents trapped in unsafe conditions with inadequate services.”
The City of Cape Town has been contacted for comment and has yet to respond. The feature will be updated with the city's comment.
While commenting on a shooting near Mew Way on the N2 recently, the Hill-Lewis said: “And still a few people say we should not build a proper security barrier on the N2! ...Let me be quite clear. We will do whatever we can to make Capetonians safer. The only question is not if we should, but how we can do it as soon as possible!”
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis was seen commenting on the N2 shooting.
Image: Screenshot
Following another crime incident on the N2 on Wednesday, Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, emphasised the urgent need for improved walling along the N2 to safeguard residents from “brazen attacks”.
“City officials responded swiftly, but the perpetrators escaped into the nearby informal settlement before they could be apprehended and remain at large. Meanwhile, opposition political parties such as the PA, ANC, EFF, and even the GOOD woke up to attack the city, rather than supporting practical safety interventions.
“This past week, I met with National Minister Barbara Creecy to discuss ways in which the city, province, and national government can work together to reduce pedestrian-related deaths on national and provincial roads within the metro. During the meeting, the importance of securing the N2 became clearer than ever.”