Pretoria – Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa says the city is still engaged in discussions with Schubart Park residents.
Delivering the State of the City Address on Thursday, Ramokgopa said: “One of the burning items on our agenda, with respect to safe and secure habitats in the City, was the situation of the Schubart Park flats.
“We have engaged the residents of Schubart Park and are utilising all means provided within our democratic system, including the decision by the highest court in the land, the Constitutional Court, with respect to the decision undertaken for parties to engage in a meaningful discussion to resolve matters of dispute.”
Last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the eviction of 700 families from the council-owned Schubart Park building by the City was unlawful. It further instructed the City to hold more “meaningful” engagements with the evicted families, as well as to pay their legal fees.
Ramokgopa thanked Reverend Frank Chikane for agreeing to mediate and facilitate a long-term sustainable resolution to the areas of disagreement and problems between the City and residents.
“We are still engaged in consultations with the Schubart Park Residents as directed by the Constitutional Court, and appointed a facilitator to manage our engagement,” Ramokgopa added.
Shifting focus to other matters of safety and security, the mayor said the City’s medium-term goal was to increase the number of Metro Police officers from the current 1 600 to 3 500 by 2014.
Accordingly, he said the City would graduate 530 Metro police recruits later in October, who would be immediately deployed in the various wards on foot and bicycles to help tackle crime at community level.
He said a further process to recruit another 1 000 officers was underway and should be concluded by June this year.
“Once they complete their training, these officers will bring to full fruition our vision of 10 Metro police officers per ward.
“We will continue to expand the use of technology in our crime prevention strategies. In this context, the City will extend the deployment of CCTV cameras to most parts of the city, beginning with the eastern suburbs, including Brooklyn, Silver Lakes, Faerie Glen, Lynnwood, and major public facilities.
“To further strengthen the city’s crime fighting and by-law enforcement capacity, we have renewed the ageing Metro Police fleet and acquired vehicles, motor-bikes, bicycles as well as horses to meet the operations and administrative needs of the Metro Police,” Ramokgopa said. - SAnews.gov.za
