An official of The City of Cape Town was recently shot and killed at the site of a previously targeted housing development.
According to Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety, this comes amid a growing trend of intimidation and violence directed at City housing projects.
He said increasing incidents waged by extortion syndicates that threaten the construction industry have been widely publicised.
“The immediate threat of violence and intimidation to site workers, employees and management of various construction sites across our city cannot be ignored,” Smith said.
The City of Cape Town is offering a reward of R100 000 for information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible for her murder.
Smith said the City is undertaking a full investigation through its Safety and Security Investigations Unit into this matter and will seek the cooperation of all related enforcement agencies.
“This is cold comfort to the family, and while this will not return their loved one I hope it will help bring her killer or killers to book,” he said.
“The City is currently making significant investments in crime fighting technology, and we are able to support the police with cutting-edge solutions that would greatly increase policing effectiveness in the fight against crime. We will further drive the capacitation of our Investigative and Information Management components to support these strategies.”
Data-led decision-making is increasingly guiding the City’s daily crime prevention operations. “We can do even more to fight crime were the police to share the live crime information on a weekly or daily basis rather than outdated, historic statistics,” Smith said.
“With real-time information about what crime is happening and where, the City enforcement resources would be able to be much more responsive and target its policing resources to the right places at the right time.”
