The Western Cape has laid out its anti-looting response plan amid murmurs circulating on social media that shutdown riots may spread to the coastal province this week.
Western Cape rolls out anti-looting response plan
Premier Alan Winde held a virtual press conference alongside provincial SAPS boss Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile and community safety leader Albert Fritz, to detail the province’s plan-of-action in meeting spurts of violence and unrest with law and order.
According to Fritz, a law enforcement complement of about 8 500 officers from various departments and precincts will come together to execute a multi-disciplinary operation against incidents of looting and unrest that may arise in the Western Cape.
“In every town, specifically in smaller towns, but in every single town in the Western Cape we have private security companies. That is really a force multiplier of many many more with vehicles and everything,” Fritz added.
The province will also rely on neighbourhood and farm watch organisations to provide needed support to law enforcement agencies in the event that rioters mirror the unrest witnessed in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng.
Commuters in central Cape Town, particularly in the north and eastern periphery, have been affected by the ongoing taxi war that’s gripped the Mother City in the last week or so.
However, the Western Cape government has assured public transit users that taxi associations have vowed to call a ceasefire and provide means for minibus services to return to full operation.
“Most operations [have been] running and I’ve also been in contact with SANTACO. They will be meeting over the next two days with CATA and CODETA. If anything changes with regards to operations being withdrawn soon a certain route, we will be sure to communicate that to commuters,” the provincial government noted.
While the possible return of full taxi operations may bring welcomed relief to commuters, the government has warned that the ceasefire in the industry war may be defied by illegal operators.
Fake news alert: No shutdown riots in Cape Town
The provincial government’s press briefing comes a day after reports surfaced on social media claiming that the shutdown riots had broke out in a number of areas in Cape Town.
Fritz made it abundantly clear that this is absolute fake news. As of Tuesday, there had been no reports of unrest related to the chaotic scenes witnessed in parts of KZN and Gauteng.
“We have not had any incident of looting as of yet with calm across the province, and full deployment of SAPS in hotspot areas to address any violence should it arise,” Winde added.