GOOD Statement by Siyabulela Mamkeli, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:
The safety of motorists on the N2 is non-negotiable. However, it must 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.
Under the Democratic Alliance–led City of Cape Town, there has been a persistent failure to advance bold, progressive, and people-centred solutions. 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.
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 GOOD party calls on the City’s Safety and Security Directorate to account publicly on the effectiveness of the law enforcement officers that were promised to be deployed along the N2 highway. The public deserves to know whether these deployments were genuinely aimed at improving safety, or whether they were merely a public relations exercise to create the impression of action while the City pursued its real agenda of building this divisive apartheid-style wall.
The Safety and Security Directorate must further take the public into its confidence by disclosing how much was spent on deploying these law enforcement officers, the duration of their deployment, and what measurable impact they have had on crime along the N2. It is deeply concerning that the City continues to advance a wall that is not even adequately budgeted for, while failing to invest meaningfully in long-term safety, housing, and service delivery solutions.
A democratic city does not hide poverty to comfort tourists. It governs transparently, confronts inequality directly, and treats residents of informal settlements as equal citizens whose lives, safety, and dignity matter.
GOOD Vision for the Future: GOOD envisions a South Africa where all citizens can thrive and live in harmony.
Electric Player
Fun South African Fact: The world’s largest diamond was found in the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa on 25 January 1905.
Domino
Gatvol – fed up / had enough [ghut-foll] Meaning ‘filled to the brim’ and is used to describe someone who is very angry or tired of the same thing happening over and over again.Example: “I’m gatvol with that nonsense.” / “I’m gatvol that they keep losing all the time.”