N2 bus torchings cost service R4m

GOLDEN Arrow has suffered a loss of nearly R4 million after two of the company’s buses were torched during protests on the N2 highway near the airport this week.

The violence is believed to be linked to unhappiness over the ANC’s councillor candidate in Ward 40 in the Gugulethu area.

Protests took place between the Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach Road on Wednesday morning, then flared up again early yesterday morning.

The demonstrations have been captured on CCTV and the City of Cape Town’s Special Investigating Unit was apparently hunting yesterday for people identified on the highway.

Meanwhile, there has been a fierce exchange of words between the city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, and the ANC in the province.

Smith claims to have been vindicated after the ANC suspended a member allegedly involved in the violence.

Smith had called on the ANC to intervene “urgently”, saying ANC in-fighting had become “Tshwane-style”, referring to violence in Pretoria.

But the ANC’s Yonela Diko dismissed Smith’s claims saying: “When there are problems in Dunoon, they call us. When there are reported problems in Barcelona (in Gugulethu) they call us. The DA must start governing this city, not just the southern suburbs”. siyabonga.sesant@inl.co.za