BY: MASHUDU MAGADU
The Tshwane Metro Department has introduced nine by-law compliance operations in Pretoria Central since the beginning of the year in efforts to make the area safer. This was revealed by Tshwane Mayor, Cilliers Brink, during a walkabout on June 1 at the municipal headquarters, Tshwane House, by Sammy Marks Square in Madiba Street and to Church Square.
The mayor said he wanted to get a feel of what the everyday CBD experience is 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”, he said.
The eight road policing operations and four Operation Shanela operations with the SAPS have been conducted in the inner city so far this year.
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 and 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 the Central district “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.
