Dear Mr. Maimane,
Let me state right off the bat that I feel open letters on the internet are generally a waste of time unless real action follows. But having said that I’m willing to gamble that there is a chance that this open letter will somehow reach you and bring about change to central Cape Town’s Long Street, a historic and integral part of the city.
Whether it’s your personal publicist who reads this first or maybe you’re just unwinding after a days work of being at the helm of the party the Western Cape loves, perhaps while checking your own Facebook or Twitter. Long Street is nearly at the point of no return in terms of crime and lack of safety.
My voice is a tiny drop in a sea of varying opinions about the matter. But we can’t sit back and let this happen without somebody informing you of this. You have pressing issues, that is a fact. More so pressing than this issue I’m sure, but hear me out if you will.
So far, not a single word has been uttered by the Democratic Alliance about the worrying safety aspect of Long Street. Muggings, pickpockets and victimised tourists all paint an ugly picture about a street with so much potential. It’s out of control, and hopefully that’s just a figure of speech.
I do not want to delve into racketeering accusations for my own safety sake. There are reports circulating about this, but I feel that’s not the area I’m comfortable addressing with you. Instead, I can let you know what the people are saying about how to improve the situation.
Zero tolerance on crime. Zero tolerance on aggressive begging. Zero tolerance on everything that flaunts the same law our government has prided itself on bringing to the people. A protest would perhaps bring about more change than an open letter to you on the internet, but starting with this letter, you have the power to make a difference for us and restore the street to being a safe place once more. It’s a beautiful city, but that’s reserved entirely for other parts of this publication.
Some are calling for a boycott, some are calling for protest, but let’s start in the here and now before resorting to that.
The CCID here is great, and have assisted in many incidents which have occurred on Long Street, but the consensus is that it’s just not enough. Having said that, steps have been taken just this afternoon to increase security, starting with a forum.
@MrCPT @CapeTownEtc Let’s encourage businesses to attend monthly SAPS sector meetings for public. We’ll post details as meetings happen.
— Cape Town CCID (@CapeTownCCID) June 24, 2015
I love their spirit though.
Be courteous at all times. Thanks Cape Town. https://t.co/XfRh9aL9lc
— Cape Town CCID (@CapeTownCCID) June 24, 2015
We are curious as to whether you intend on taking additional action here.
Thank you Mr. Maimane for reading this, or to your personal publicist, hopefully both, for hearing me out. I hope to get word back from you at your earliest convenience about a solution.
Regards from us.
Thank you Justin.
I am there often and always feel safe!?
To the author et al.
This is a very well intended open letter, and I am sure if enough people keep on tweeting #savelongstreet to Mmusi, he will take interest. It is afterall, like you say, an historic place.
With that being said, I think it would be wiser to reach for @DanPlato (WC minister of community safety), @HellenZille (WC Premier) and @PatriciaDeLille (CT Mayor).
The great thing about our modern society is that we don’t have to storm the palace of Versailles, but we can use mediums like twitter to voice our opinion.
Lastly, we have to remember that the SADP is nationally run, and the provinces can only do so much. Sadly, the people who ordered a police escort for Omar Al-Bashir are the same people in control of the SADP in the CT CBD.
Nonetheless, great letter. Let’s hope it bares fruit!
Great! Take our leaders to task.
Hi Stephanus, greatly appreciate the reply, compliment and useful feedback – thank you! It really helps that this gets pushed in the right direction and you are on the money with using mediums like social media to make a difference. Let’s hope that something comes of this, we will be attending the forum to be set up by Cape Town Central City Improvement District.
The drug lords and mafia are running the street at midnight ! Police ? Wake up and look around you , one dead this week and don’ t be surprised if owners don’ t pay mafia money resulting in a next “subject” to die as warning to owners. Drugs is so easily available in this street, be streetwise !!!!
CapeTownEtc MmusiMaimane Long Street hub of cbd entertainment. Destroy that and slowly degeneration of inner city begins. Save Long Street
Keagan Riley
Fully support this, it’s so sad to see what is happening on this iconic street.
This evening I saw the comments made by JP Smith. Absolutely pathetic. A SAPS matter and it is up to the SAPS to deal with the matter he contended. Pathetic JP Smith. You always have so much to say on security matters but on an important issue such as this your attitude is shocking in the extreme. Oh as a matter of interest JP, are you also on the payroll of those gangsters?
And what about the rest of Cape Town?
Cape town city council are a mockery. Crime has been running rampant for years and nothing has been done. Always shifting the blame. If they wanted to solve the problem they would. I think they don’t really care because they are conservatives who think its just sinners out clubbing and getting drunk and having fun, thats why they ruined nightlife by changing all the closing hours to 3am.
Business owners need to band together in a community and make decisions about security as a group. As one group you must hire a security company and safeguard the entire street with the help of Cape Town Central City Improvement District and of course the Police. Work together as this is too culturally valuable to lose to criminal thugs. I doubt Mr Mmusi Maimane can save this…Lovely Long St must save themselves. Clean up your own houses, your own workers, your own streets and your own books.
Just long street?
But it’s a DA run city where’s the accountability . Surely this a is a De Lille issue as mayor….
Writing to the head of the DA is meaningless. This is a job for the mayor and local government.
As much as Long Street is a problem, there are communities and people far more victimised and battered in the Western Cape by atrocities more serious, vile and life changing than muggings. I was mugged three times on Long Street, but frankly, that is irrelevant considering what other people experience daily: severe poverty, rape, domestic violence, gang violence, homelessness after fires and during winter floods… The list goes on. The priorities of the Western Cape government should be where action is needed most and not with the privileged minority worried about a historical party Street.
This is a problem the whole of Cape Town is experiencing, we have become prisoners in our own homes and not even that is enough to make us safe from these rats, all we can do is pray and hope we not next!!!!
Well said, action speaks louder than words.
Ons was gelukkig gewees 😀 :/ haha Anja van der Merwe Nandi de Bruin Szandro Grunschloss Neels Klopper Ivan Rogers
Your Open letter should be to the Government ,City of Cape Town and SAPS not, note NOT to leader of the opposition.
I think telling business owners/ managers to band up and boycott is a bit difficult. At the end of the day we are civilians with families and children going up against a literal army of well organised armed thugs, who evidently would have no remorse taking you out. Even while typing this message i have second thoughts of posting it as i fear my anonymity and in turn my safety would be compromised. This is a task for trained individuals; investigators, law enforcement, SAPS and provincial government collaborating together, forming strategic plans and implementing them swiftly with the public’s safety taking priority. An entity so deeply entangled in the under-belly of our fine city can’t be tackled by opinionated civilians. We’ve got words, they’ve got sticks and stones. I commend certain business owners coming out and bringing the issue to light but i unfortunately am not that brave, I have mine, my family and my staff’s safety to think about.
It would be the great achievement if this issue can be resolved, if we can be assured our identities are protected , you’d have alot more people coming out willing to testify but as it stands, being in direct contact with these guys on a daily basis and seeing throughout the 10 years I’ve spent in the hospitality/night club industry how colleagues & other business owners/managers have been harassed, threatened, brutally beaten, stabbed and even killed and the cases have just been forgotten with time or thrown out for ”lack of evidence” I dont blame those who choose to stay silent. We don’t feel protected in any way.
Murder, violence and other crime is an issue in far more places than Long Street but the problem in South Africa as a whole, including Cape Town, relates not only to lack of police resources, corruption and addiction but also to a struggling economy and the unemployment that gives rise to. The struggling economy also makes it harder to give the existing police adequate equipment let alone increase resources.
Tourism brings in a huge amount of revenue to Cape Town and if the situation in Long Street is allowed to get worse, potentially spreading to other parts of CBD, the city loses a lot of revenue which then makes providing city-funded security initiatives anywhere in Cape Town harder. If this happens then not only will lawlessness in CBD get worse but it gets worse everywhere in the wider Cape Town area. The tourism and other revenue-generating capacity of the CBD can’t be allowed to fail or else everyone suffers even more than they do at the moment.
– Julian
East Cape is not better,gangsters is running the City!every day pple dying in gangs shooting,stabbing and rape.No one is safe day or night.
Isn’t this a matter for Patricia de Lille to handle……totally agree with Dolores Coullie very good suggestion….step in the right direction.
You are right Dolores very well said….