Road closure due to Dunoon protests: City subordinate to command of public order police, says JP Smith
Residents in the area started protesting on Monday about the demolition of walls that had been erected illegally.
Generic image of debris being burned during protest - EWN
CapeTalk's John Maytham is joined by JP Smith from the City of Cape Town.
The Cape Town traffic department confirmed on Wednesday that Malibongwe Drive in the Dunoon area remained closed due to protests.
Motorists have been up in arms about this disruption to their daily schedules.
The protests were sparked on Monday after city law enforcement officers demolished three walls erected (unlawfully) by a local.
JP Smith, Cape Town's MayCo member for Safety and Security, talks about some of the complexities involved in handling a situation like this.
"I have some sympathy for the disruptions; I also had a lot of people contact me... but it's frustrating because it emanates from criminality by a group of people who violated a court interdict relating to construction and illegal land occupation."
JP Smith, MayCo member for Safety and Security - CoCT
The City is obliged by law to act in such a situation and when they did, a protest broke out, Smith explains.
When incidents like this happen, a part of the national instruction around public order police crowd management kicks in, which means the City then becomes subordinate to the command of the public order police on the scene, he goes on.
"As soon as they arrive they take over and we have to follow their instructions. They have certain procedures that are spelled out in the legislation and these largely focus on harm reduction or the execution of peaceful crowd management to de-escalate the situation... and therefore the kind of pointed action that residents are looking for, like for the roads to be reopened, is not possible."
JP Smith, MayCo member for Safety and Security - CoCT
"We've been in touch with the police continuously and supported them on the scene to get the roads reopened... There were discussions with the protesters earlier today and they've now ceased to protest, but there are bigger problems here... with the amount of malicious damage to property that's been perpetrated."
JP Smith, MayCo member for Safety and Security - CoCT
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