It’s up to us now

Initially it was an issue that affected paramedics, with emergency staff coming under attack when trying to save lives in communities across the Western Cape. The situation became so dire that paramedics were robbed, assaulted and even raped and would only enter hostile territory, known as the so-called “red zones”, under police guard.

Now, we have so called “red zone stations” affecting the largest public mode of transport in the city – Metrorail.

The rail network transports more than half a million people across Cape Town daily, and is the lifeblood of the people who use it and those who work there.

The safety of rail technicians, Metrorail staff and its commuters is paramount, so risking their lives to get to work is cause for serious concern.

The City of Cape Town advocates we use public transport and decrease the number of single-driver commutes to work every day.

But Capetonians need a reliable public transport system, a system where they are not afraid to travel at certain times of the day.

We need adequate policing and a criminal justice system that brings cable thieves and armed robbers to account.

The question we need to ask ourselves is what are we doing about the situation? As a society, we need to interrogate why we have allowed the emergency services and rail network service to reach this point?

The sad reality is that the criminal activity perpetrated is committed by criminals living in the very communities depending on Metrorail’s services.

The challenge for all of us, be it a community organisations, businesses, political parties, or NGOs, is to step up. We need to root out the criminals in our communities, report crime and help the authorities and the police tackle crime.

It is in our hands.