Enough is Enough! Genoeg is Genoeg! Kwanele!
While these phrases might sound more like a cliché, the City of Cape Town hopes to put them to good use in the fight against extortion in the province.
On Thursday 12 October, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, accompanied by some of his Mayco members and local ward councillors, launched the Anti-Extortion Campaign at the MyCiTi depot construction site at the corner of Spine and Mew Way roads in Khayelitsha.
Dubbed Enough is Enough! Genoeg is Genoeg! Kwanele!, the campaign is designed to put an end to the ongoing extortion claims in the province, particularly in the predominantly black townships. Hill-Lewis described the extortion as a national issue, saying it is harming businesses in Cape Town. He alluded to a massive spike in extortion efforts and extortion attempts in the City, especially at construction sites.
However, he stated that the notorious conduct also extended to the basic municipal services in areas such as Nyanga, Gugulethu and Philippi. The municipality has been forced to pull out of some of these areas due to extortion claims.
Hill-Lewis stated that it is difficult to fight the practice as it has spread across the City. “It is not possible to protect all the sites with security. We have the main sites like the MyCiTi site in Khayelitsha, the Delft Symphony housing project in Delft, various housing project sites in Mitchell’s Plain and a bridge construction site in Lentegeur. We spent about R55m this year in additional security to protect those sites so the construction can continue,” explained Hill-Lewis.
People are afraid to report the crime because are threatened by the extortionists, added Hill-Lewis.
According to him, the culprits often start with ward councillors. He described them as “highly organised people who operate in the network like the drug trade in the Cape Flats”.
Hill-Lewis blamed crime intelligence for failing to execute its mandate. “We have few high-profile extortionists arrested if any. We’ve heard former drug gangsters telling us that they now earn more money from extortion than ever did from drugs – that is how severe it is. If we want to attack this we have to do it from a crime intelligence perspective,” said Hill-Lewis.
He stated that they would put up billboards in strategic areas, distribute pamphlets and visit the radio stations to promote the campaign. “As part of the campaign, the City has set up a 24-hour hotline (0800 00 6992) and a rewards system to encourage residents to help the City and the authorities tackle extortion with billboards set to be rolled out along major routes showing how to report. Reporting can be anonymous,” he said
The City’s Mayco member for urban waste management Grant Twigg said their staff are still traumatised. He urged the community to report the extortionists to the police.
Speaking on behalf of the councillors, Subcouncil 10 chair Delmaine Cottee said they are worried about the escalating cases in Khayelitsha. He stated that many projects were affected and some had to be temporarily suspended due to extortion.
“It affects our development and the people who are working on these sites because some of them lose their jobs. We encourage the community to come forward with the information so the perpetrators can be arrested,” said Cottee.