The City of Cape Town has hit back at the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Western Cape following a protest by the federation against the state of public transport in the region on Tuesday. Some of the demands highlighted by Cosatu’s regional secretary for the Western Cape‚ Tony Ehrenreich‚ included that some of the MyCiTi buses be moved to the Cape Flats from the old white areas and that Metrorail urgently improves the security on trains and that more trains be made available.Mayoral committee member‚ councillor Brett Herron‚ called the action taken by Cosatu to target the city “ironic‚ if not dishonest and schizophrenic”.“We agree that Metrorail is in a state of crisis. Even though Metrorail is being managed by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa‚ a state-owned enterprise‚ the City is assisting our partners from Metrorail as often as we can and within our limited resources.“In April 2016 when Metrorail was unable to provide a service due to violent strike action‚ which incidentally was supported by COSATU‚ the City added extra MyCiTi services to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to assist stranded Metrorail passengers‚” Herron said.The councillor went on to add that over the past two years‚ the City has “been working to expand the MyCiTi network by connecting Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain – and 1.4 million residents in 30 communities along the way including Gugulethu and Manenberg – with Claremont and Wynberg. This is the planned Phase 2A of the MyCiTi service.”However‚ Ehrenreich says that while the city continued to neglect the so called black and coloured areas of Cape Town‚ namely the Cape Flats‚ white communities continued to be advantaged.“The MyCiTi buses must be moved from old white areas to the Cape Flats‚ where need is more urgent to and the provincial government must put in place transport between rural towns‚” he said.The Cosatu memorandum to Metrorail‚ the City of Cape Town‚ Provincial Government and Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry added that “the lack of adequate public transport to the Cape Flats is a direct consequence of Apartheid spatial planning and preference of the white areas". “That spatial planning put black families furthest away from the industrial areas and City centres ‚ an apartheid practice that is being continued by the DA ‚ who does not want working class black and rich white to live together‚” it read.Nevertheless‚ the City maintained that it remains committed to providing residents with reliable transport‚ and blamed the African National Congress (ANC) for delays in the further implementation of the MyCiTi service.“The roll-out is being delayed by COSATU’s alliance partner‚ the ANC‚ who have tried every trick in the book to prevent us from delivering this service.“Mr Ehrenreich leads the ANC in the Council – if he was indeed interested in providing more and better transport services to residents on the Cape Flats he should have led his caucus to supporting the roll-out of Phase 2 of the MyCiTi service instead of trying to block it‚” Herron said. According to the memorandum‚ Cosatu has given the City‚ Province‚ National Government and Metrorail until August 17 to respond to the demands‚ threatening to go on “a full scale strike against those parties” on the day.“We are tired of being treated second class by the City of Cape Town where the Mayor wears a gas mask when she visits our communities‚ but sneaks into Camps Bay to go and have lunch with rich developers‚ that she gives our land to the developers.“Black lives matter and this struggle for public transport‚ is part of our greater effort to build a city that is more free and fair and equal‚” the memorandum added. ..