MALAIKA WA AZANIA | City of Cape Town building walls because it can’t build people

The City of Cape Town will be spending R114m to build a wall along the side of the N2 highway near the Cape Town International Airport. The proposed wall, referred to as the Edge Safety Project, will stretch for 9km and will include new pedestrian crossings, improved lighting, access control and safety barriers for recreational spaces. This, according to the metro, is aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities that are common on this stretch of highway that divides two informal settlements — Thabo Mbeki informal settlement on one side and Winnie Madikizela informal settlement on the other.

On the surface the N2 wall is a reasonable intervention on a stretch of road that is notorious for not only pedestrian fatalities, but for crime as well. Residents from the two informal settlements are known to rob pedestrians on the existing bridge, as well as motorists driving on the highway. For a city so heavily dependent on tourism, particularly from international visitors, it stands to reason that the municipality would prioritise the safety of motorists who are targeted by criminals on either side of the highway.

The city may also argue that it is in the interest of the residents themselves, who each accuse the other side of being responsible for the high rates of crime on the pedestrian bridge. As things stand, many residents support the initiative, and the issue of safety is the main reason. But scratch beneath the surface and you can see a much more sinister logic at play.

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The City of Cape Town has mastered the art of rendering its poor invisible. This started before the 2010 Fifa World Cup when the city first proposed the building of the wall.

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