The dire lack of services and infrastructure in Khayelitsha impacts directly on the most basic rights to dignity and security of the person. Through at times harrowing testimony, the O’Regan/Pikoli Commission of Inquiry has heard that residents of Khayelitsha’s informal settlements lack the most basic of services and experience disproportionately high levels of crime and violence. This testimony is quite contrary to the claims made by Mayor de Lille in her statement on 4 February 2014. Using a toilet is one of the most dangerous daily activities for people living in informal settlements. People are robbed, beaten, raped and murdered simply while trying to relieve themselves.
This severe deficit in services and infrastructure not only creates an environment where residents are vulnerable to crime, but also places a burden on police resources and contributes to inefficiencies within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Questions submitted to Richard Bosman, Executive Director of Safety and Security at the City of Cape Town
Attached is our full list of questions submitted to the Commission of Inquiry for cross-examination of the Executive Director of Safety and Security in the City of Cape Town, Richard Bosman; including those that will not be asked at the Commission. The purpose of these questions was to develop a better understanding of various aspects of safety and security in Cape Town.
Given the scope of the Commission, it has disqualified a number of these questions. The questions that have been excluded are 3 – 10, 15 – 18 and 22.
Ensuring safety and security in Khayelitsha and elsewhere will require that all stakeholders – including the City – acknowledge and carry out their respective mandates.
It is regrettable that some of these questions have been excluded. However, what is of real concern is the City’s defensiveness and its attempt to distance itself from its responsibilities. It has a central role to play in the provision of safety and justice and to attempt to divorce itself from that is extremely worrying.
[ENDS]
For more information please contact:
Phumeza Mlungwana
074 417 8306
Axolile Notywala
074 386 1584