Police bracing for the unknown as 'Cape Town shutdown' set for Thursday morning

Cape Town-based "pressure group" Gatvol Capetonian wants to shut down the city centre on Thursday.

The protest action is over a lack of housing for coloured people in the province, as well as "apartheid style spatial planning".

"The main objective of this shutdown is to highlight the people's frustrations with a lack of commitment from government in terms of deadlines when houses will be built and delivered," the organisation said in a press release.

"We urge the public to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor and landless people and acknowledge the fact that this action is necessary," it added.

City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said that they had no previous engagement with organisers and were, therefore, in the dark about the impact of the proposed shutdown.

"We cannot predict the extent to which the shutdown will be supported and what impact there will be.

"However, the city will provide any support to the South African Police Service that may be required around road closures, impact on traffic and other public safety measures that are required," he said.

Smith said the city supported peaceful protest action, but called on participants to respect the rights of others by not preventing free movement, and to refrain from any damage to refrain from damaging any public or private infrastructure or placing any lives at risk.

He said that he "didn't believe this type of protest was in the public interest", as restricting movement in already vulnerable areas was counter-intuitive.

"We do not believe it is helpful to limit mobility to already vulnerable communities, as nothing is achieved by that.

"Such a protest simply harms the community one claims to be wanting to help and further disincentivises investment and job creation in that community as well as preventing residents there from getting to work, preventing service delivery and preventing emergency vehicles from helping the community," he said. 

Residents in Ocean View were up in arms on Wednesday, with many voicing their frustrations on social media.

"After being unemployed for almost two years, I have recently gotten a job by the grace of god," said Facebook user Farzaana Fisher. "And now I have to take a day off work because I don't get to choose what's important to me."

SAPS spokesperson Lt. Col. Andre Traut said police would be the first line of defence against any disruptions.

"Western Cape police are aware of the intended action and we have developed a plan to deal with any eventuality in this regard," he said.