Движение CARE критикует план Кейптауна потратить 114 млн рандов на стену против преступности

‘A wall will not resolve crime’: civil society group challenges CoCT’s R114m safety wall Sara-Jayne Makwala King 26 August 2026 | 10:15 Movement for CARE says Cape Town needs to ask how its R114 million could make communities living alongside the N2 safer. Cape Town. (Wikimedia Commons/Mike Peel) Not money well spent. That's the claim from a Cape Town civil society group which is pushing back against the City’s plans to spend R114 million on a safety wall for the N2. The Movement for Collective Action and Racial Equity (Movement for CARE) launched its Cost of CARE People’s Budget Campaign at Cissie Gool House last week. It says tackling crime along the highway will take more than building a physical barrier. “We are not anti-safety. We recognise that crime and insecurity along the N2 are real and people who travel along the N2, or live in the surrounding communities, have legitimate fears.” Speaking to CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit, the organisation's Nkosikhona Swartbooi said the group is questioning whether the wall is the best use of more than R100 million of public money. He said the City should provide clear evidence that the project will in fact reduce crime on that stretch of road. "We need to interrogate whether the wall will actually respond to the main safety problems on the N2 and before spending R114 million, the City of Cape Town should be able to show clear evidence that a wall will significantly reduce the specific forms of violence that it's dealing with." ALSO READ: Cape Town residents pour cold water on R114m N2 security wall project In tabling the N2 Edge safety project at the start of the year, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said it was "not fair" that a small number of criminal elements were impacting the safety of hundreds of thousands of daily users of the N2. But Movement for Care is questioning how much say communities living alongside the N2 have had in the project. Swartbooi told Kiewit that residents are not denying the need to protect motorists, but want the conversation to include the violence and crime affecting people living in communities along the route. "If this is really about safety, we should be having a conversation that's deeper than just building the wall. How do we keep our communities safe? We must look through interventions that actually invite community members to be a part of this conversation instead of just building a wall." The project has already been budgeted for and is in the procurement and scoping phase, with major construction expected to begin in January 2027. Swartbooi says the campaign wants residents to have a greater say in how public money is spent and what interventions could make Cape Town safer. “A wall will not resolve crime in Cape Town. We have deep crime issues that need interventions from all spheres of government… we want safety, but we want safety for everyone.” ALSO READ: CoCT using R114m N2 wall to hide poverty from tourists, says ANC City faces backlash over R114m N2 security wall project City of Cape Town spends R114m on N2 'safety wall' to combat crime Never miss a major story. Get breaking news and the latest developments from South Africa and beyond as they happen. Get the whole picture 💡 Take a look at the topic timeline for all related articles.