As residents crave a safer CBD mayor confirms work to achieve this is already underway

People living, working, or visiting Pretoria Central believe that despite its improvements, the CBD could still be a lot safer.

The Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) has conducted nine by-law operations in Pretoria Central since the beginning of the year in its efforts to make the area safer.

This was revealed by Mayor Cilliers Brink during a walkabout on July 1 from the municipal headquarters, Tshwane House by Sammy Marks in Madiba Street to Church Square.

Brink said he wanted to get a feel of what the everyday CBD experience was like for residents.

“While a lot can be improved to make the CBD cleaner and safer for all residents and visitors, there is a great deal of work that is already underway. The city has dedicated TMPD inner city safety patrol teams, as well as day and night inner city cleaning teams,” Brink said.

In addition to the by-law operations, eight road policing operations and four Operation Shanela operations with the SAPS have been conducted in the inner city thus far this year.

These operations resulted in 1 122 vehicles being impounded and 869 traffic violations being issued.

TMPD inner city teams conducted various searches and inspections, which resulted in 97 businesses inspected, 565 vehicles checked and 258 persons searched.

“Our mission is for residents to walk freely in a clean city without fear of being victims of crime. Public spaces such as Church Square are important assets to our city. [They] must be as clean and safe as possible because they serve a very important social role of building a sense of community and allowing people to enjoy the natural environment that Tshwane has to offer,” Brink said.

The mayor commended the TMPD for the work they do in making Central “fairly” safer but acknowledged that there’s work to be done.

“We still have a lot to improve on and I would like to encourage our inner city teams to maintain police visibility and make Tshwane a safe and clean city,” Brink said.

Rekord reached out to residents living and working in the CBD to gauge what their experience was like regarding safety in the inner city.

Trevor Rakaki, a Pretoria West resident who works in the CBD, believes the metro police could play a more significant role in policing the area.

“As someone doing business in Tshwane, in general, it’s safe inside the CBD due to the visibility of SANDF members who are frequently seen walking in town,” Rakaki said.

“The police are hardly anywhere to be seen and metro police only impound illegally parked vehicles, but the challenge is drugs in CBD. You find drug users sleeping in pedestrian walking spaces and the cops or metro police turn a blind eye,” he claimed.

“Drug dealers are contributing to the crime at night in town and the increasing number of users. I would like the mayor to focus on drugs and damage to infrastructure that ends up in scrap yards,” Rakaki said.

Tshepiso Pelo, another resident who works in the CBD, said he would like to see the same level of visible policing during the Presidential Inauguration at all times after falling victim to multiple crimes.

“I was a student at Tshwane North College and that’s when I saw the other side of the CBD. I got robbed in daylight on my way to school and it was when I knew it was not heaven on earth,” Pelo recalled.

“Recently, I had my car taken by people claiming to be taxi association members at Pretoria Station and demanded I pay R3 500. Nothing is done and it’s a trend all over as no Bolt or Uber is allowed to pick up or drop off where they deemed no-go,” he said.

“So riders as we call them are concerned about their safety at night and I recently nearly got hijacked at McDonald’s in Hamilton [Street]. So for me, safety needs to be reviewed at the CBD, the same visibility we saw during the inaugural week should be there at all times,” Pelo said.

Others say safety in the CBD has improved, though residents should always be aware of their safety at all times to not fall victim to crime.

Frans Nape, a Mamelodi resident who works for a property company in the CBD, said he noticed a change regarding safety since Brink took office as mayor.

“Concerning Tshwane CBD since the appointment of Cilliers Brink, the city is becoming better and safer that experience was long felt when Kgosientsho Ramokgopa was the mayor, the city is much better, we hope it gets better and better,” Nape said.

Catherine Keyworth, manager of the Arcadia City Improvement District, said she feels safer in the CBD than in other parts of the metro, but urged fellow residents to exercise caution nonetheless.

“I think people do need to use common sense and be vigilant. I walk where I need to go. Walking in the city is also very different to driving through the city. Some spaces need attention but I’ve had more negative experiences in private malls than the CBD,” Keyworth said.

Watch here: https://x.com/i/status/1808077527530770445

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram