Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Masi residents don’t want taxi rank
RESIDENTS of Masiphumelele near Fish Hoek are upset at a proposal to build a taxi rank instead of a permanent police station at the site of a defunct art and craft centre.
The area, which is home to over 40 000 people, has been marred by spates of mob violence and vigilantism which led to the murder of at least one man, alleged to be a drug dealer, in September last year.
Now the city is proposing that the Two Oceans Craft Centre be converted into a taxi rank and residents say they would rather have a permanent police station as “the current mobile station is not as useful as we had thought”.
The centre, which was built in 1998 in collaboration with False Bay College, closed when the college lost its mandate from the the national govern- ment to do further education and training.
Community activist Vuyo Bhashula said, “Our priority is getting a police station, a permanent police station, not a taxi rank”.
“We have serious crimes in this area which is why people decided to take matters into their own hands last year. The mobile police station is simply not an adequate resource for the area; we need a proper and permanent police station. We do not need a taxi rank at all.”
Residents also said they had had high expectations for the mobile unit which had two holding cells. However, all it provided was the certification of documents as well as affidavits
In November, Deputy Police Minister Maggie Sotyu handed over the mobile station after impassioned pleas from locals at a community meeting two months earlier.
In May the mobile police station failed a roadworthy test due to a faulty airbag.
This left the residents with no option but to make use of the police station in Ocean View which is about 4km away.
“You see, when the mobile police station is faulty like it was earlier this year we are left without a police station, so what are we supposed to do now?” asked Bhashula.
City of Cape Town spokeswoman Priya Reddy said the project had been in the pipeline since 2014.
She said minibus-taxi operators were operating from a vacant erf with no services or facilities to commuters and operators and the area posed a safety and security risk.
However Bhashula told Weekend Argus the area had a taxi rank.
“There is no reason to move the taxi rank from where it is, they can simply fix the space where the taxi rank currently is and convert the craft centre into a police station; that is all.”
Community Policing Forum chairwoman Kathy Cronje told Weekend Argus the mobile police station was an adequate resource.
She said it was “serving a purpose but does not stop crime”.
“People who cannot afford to travel to Ocean View which is about 4km away have the option of the van but a population of between 35 000 and 40 000 people needs a permanent structure,” she said.
Another resident, Thembisa Ncatha, echoed Bhashula’s sentiments and said moving the taxi rank to the craft centre was a waste of resources.
“(We) do not need a new taxi rank with new facilities, we need a police station,” she said.
asanda.sokanyile@inl.co.za