Cape Town - A week after the City officially welcomed the deployment of 100 law enforcement officers to the Cape Town CBD, over 100 University of the Western Cape students protested about the distribution of resources along racial lines, calling for police visibility in and around areas housing students.
Led by the UWC student representative council and the EFF Student Command, the students marched from Hanover Street, District Six, to the Cape Town Civic Centre to hand over a memorandum of demands related to gender-based violence and a range of safety and security grievances.
The students demanded that the City extend its law enforcement assistance programme to Bellville, Belhar and Parow.
UWC’s SRC president Mandla-Onke Notyawa said: “There is little that is being done by both the South African Police Service and also the City of Cape Town in addressing the concerns of students.”
The City did not service the Bellville, Belhar and Parow areas, with poor lighting and unkempt grass and trees, creating a conducive environment for crime to thrive, he said.
“These areas are neglected by the City. That’s where coloured bodies and black people are found so you will never find this situation, for instance, in Camps Bay, Sea Point or here in the CBD.
“The City continues to deploy people here, whereas there are already existing law enforcement officers in the City. They are not spreading their resources equally,” Notyawa said.
Owing to limited student residences, students had to seek private accommodation in areas such as
Bellville, Belhar and Parow, and were often subjected to muggings, break-ins, robberies and harassment.
The SRC’s cultural and recreational officer, Katlego Selowa, said these concerns had previously been brought up during engagements with the SAPS last year.
UWC spokesperson Gasant Abarder said an integrated approach to student safety and security was taken. There were officers and committees that oversaw this work and ensured plans were implemented.
“While the university always co-operates fully with the South African Police Service, safety and security outside the university’s main and satellite campuses and its residences are beyond the ambit and resource capacity of university security,” he said.
Law enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said: “There have been an increased number of law-enforcement patrols at student residences in Belhar over the last couple of months, due to complaints of by-law contraventions in the areas around the campuses.
“These patrols are focused on when these issues are likely to occur, which is mostly on weekends. Additional patrols are also done during the week.”
Dyason said the LEAP programme has delivered 1 100 new officers in communities impacted by high levels of crime, including Delft, Nyanga, Khayelitsha (Site C), Philippi (inclusive of Hanover Park), Bishop Lavis, Mfuleni, Harare, Gugulethu, Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain, Atlantis, Philippi East, and Samora Machel.