City of Cape Town committing resources to curb N1 Woodstock attacks

CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit speaks with Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.

Listen below:

There've been reports of objects being placed on the N1 incoming (FW De Klerk Blvd) near the Woodstock turnoff  - to target motorists.

These objects are placed with the intention of getting motorists to stop, after which they are robbed.

Recently this caused a two-vehicle collision, and the occupants of both vehicles were robbed by a group of people.

Alderman Smith says this has happened in this area before leading to the city having extra staff and CCTV cameras there.

However, he says the criminals placed the obstacles in the road in the pouring rain so you can barely see what is happening in the video footage.

“You can see a little bit of movement but they are constantly crossing the road there.”

- Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security 

They also attacked outside of the shift hours of the officials working in that area, meaning the city will have to extend the working hours of the patrols.

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“We will be obliged to commit more and more resources to a response that is not our obligation and fix a problem which we are not creating and is not on our land.”

- Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security

He says the mayor is working on improving the fencing along these problem roads to prevent incidents like this in the future.

Scroll up to the audio player for more.