Paying tribute to the City's unsung heroes
Every day, the employees who work for the City of Cape Town go about their business, making this great metropolis work. They clean the streets while we sleep. They collect the refuse we make. They drive buses at all hours, making sure we can get around. They make sure we have water to drink and electricity to turn our lights on. And they try and make sure we live in a safe and orderly place. They do all of these things and much more.
They are the people who have dedicated their lives to public service. The employees are the City of Cape Town.
And in this City, we are all one large, extended family, different in so many ways but the same in this one important aspect: we have all made it our mission to serve.
On Wednesday night, we lost a member of our family.
Superintendent Mpumelelo Hubert Xakekile was killed in the line of duty at approximately 18:30 on 10 October 2012 after serving the community for 21 years. He was murdered by two unidentified individuals as he was issuing a fine to a mini-bus taxi in Khayelitsha.
Supt. Xakekile joined Cape Town Traffic Services on 1 March 1992 as a Traffic Officer. After training, he worked as team member on general enforcement in the Maitland CBD. In 1996, he worked in the radio room as an operator, before joining the City Police in 2001 as a Sergeant.
As a Sergeant, he was deployed to Nyanga and Gugulethu before being seconded as an operational support officer in 2006. In 2009, he was promoted to the post of Superintendent at the Special Operations Unit: Tactical Response Unit. He served in that post until his death.
As Mayor, I am privileged to have the honour of meeting and working with our employees every day.
I happened to see Supt. Xakekile just last week. He drove me to the gang raid the Metro Police conducted in Hanover Park last Friday night. He was responsible for protecting me throughout the operation, waiting with me while his fellow officers secured the area.
He drove me around that night, keeping me safe.
After his death, Alderman J.P. Smith and I visited Supt. Xakekile's wife on Thursday morning on behalf of the City. We tried, as much as we could, to share her grief and her pain. Her husband was murdered on her birthday.
Amidst all of the divides in this city, among all of the debates about service delivery there is one simple and unalterable truth: day in and day out, city employees find themselves in dangerous situations and places, trying to do their jobs.
They put themselves on the line to make this city work. These are their jobs, yes. Nevertheless, they do not hear this enough: thank you, baie dankie, enkosi. Thank you for all that you do to make our lives better.
The violence of recent times, and its very real consequences, has led to much sadness in the city. Sandile Hoko, a Golden Arrow bus driver, was killed after his bus was pelted with stones. And Gary Stewart, a truck driver, lost his life after being struck on the head with a brick, allegedly by striking SATAWU members.
This violence, and those who perpetrate it, has left a trail of bereavement in the city - a burden which all of those committed to a better future shall bear.
But we will continue our work - partly in memory of those who have sacrificed everything to help and build the Cape Town of tomorrow.
A grateful City remembers Mpumelelo Hubert Xakekile.
This article by Patricia de Lille first appeared in Cape Town This Week, the weekly online newsletter of the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, October 12 2012
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