COSATU to file Equality Court Case against City of Cape Town for My Citi discrimination

The roll-out of the My Citi Bus Service exposes the way in which the City discriminates between communities of the Cape Flats and those of the Milnerton area. The roll-out of the services in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha exposes the City's bias towards Milnerton.

The challenge of busses not being available could easily be solved by moving a few of the busses from Milnerton to the Cape Flats in the short term. The effect of this would be that instead of Milnerton busses running every 20 minutes they can run every 30 minutes, but the Cape Flats would have a better service from this launch. Surely this National funding must be shared amongst communities and the City's old reason, that rich communities' rates pay for it, cannot be justification for some areas getting the service before others.

The fact that the bus stops are not built is just incompetence on the part of the City and this would never happen in relation to the Milnerton roll-out. The City is not prioritising the needs of the communities who do not have alternative prospects for transport and instead is focusing on the wealthier old white areas in the main.

In all aspects of the service introduction, the Cape Flats are getting a substandard service and the service is introduced there years after service is operational in Milnerton. The Equality Court application will detail the areas where the City Administrators undermine equality in the roll-out of the service.

COSATU will be filing an application at the Equality Court to fight this blatant discrimination in respect of services. The City will have to answer why it is prioritising some communities ahead of others.

Statement issued by COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, June 30 2014

Update:

COSATU to File Equality Case against City at 13h30, Tuesday 1 July 2014

COSATU will be filing a case against the City of Cape Town at the Equality Court for the unequal roll out of the My Citi bus services in Cape Town.

The discrimination between the extent of the service in Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha in relation to the service in Milnerton is unacceptable. We are making a plea to the court to order the City to roll out similar standards of service in all areas, with all the bells and whistles being consistently applied.

COSATU Will Answer Any Media Questions outside the Courts at 13h30.

Statement issued by COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, July 1 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter