Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
City’s holiday safety drive keeps incidents to minimum
THE City of Cape Town has patted itself on the back for what it has termed a “well-executed” festive plan.
Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith said no major incidents had been recorded during any of the City’s big events over the New Year’s Eve holiday period and staff would maintain high levels of visibility at beaches and other popular public spots until the season had wound down and when schools reopened on January 17.
“Many people are still on holiday and I think they’ll want to make the most of any good weather, considering that both the peak festive season weekends didn’t offer the greatest weather conditions,” said Smith.
The City announced that many of its popular beaches were not as busy as expected, with about 30 000 visitors to Muizenberg,12 000 to Strandfontein Pavilion, 8 000 at Strand and 3 000 at Monwabisi.
Smith said 12 drownings had been recorded between December 1 and January 5.
“The number of drownings are disappointing because we work really hard to ensure a safe environment for visitors to our beaches and other public attractions.
“This year we had extra lifeguards deployed but it’s of little consequence if bathers venture outside the designated bathing areas or disregard the instructions of lifeguards. We will look at each incident to see what the exact circumstances were and how we can improve our beach safety strategy,” added Smith.
He said alcohol consumption in public spaces and on beaches was another problem.
“While the number of confiscations was down considerably year- on- year, it is not possible to determine whether it was linked only to the much lower visitor numbers to beaches as a result of unfavourable weather conditions or whether the message is finally filtering through to the public,” said Smith.
He said 29 000 children had been tagged as part of the city’s Identikidz programme, which was implemented at various priority beaches over the New Year’s long weekend.
“A total of 47 children were reported lost but were reunited with their families. One child was handed over to a social worker from the Western Cape Department of Social Development at Big Bay on New Year’s Eve,” said Smith.
He added that Cape Town Traffic Services had screened 20 064 motorists for alcohol and issued 269 609 written notices during the month of December.
Law enforcement officers had arrested 1 441 suspects, including 694 for driving while intoxicated, 449 for outstanding warrants of arrest and 151 for reckless and negligent driving. Officers also confiscated 501 cellphones.
“We ramped up our enforcement efforts in recent weeks but as many motorists will have learnt by now, we do rigorous checks for drunk driving and other serious transgressions on a regular basis.
“To those who put their own safety and the safety of others first this festive season, we thank you and ask that this be the approach all year round,” said Smith.
The city’s plan will again be rolled out for the Easter period towards the end of March.