Quick arrests in attack on politicians shines spotlight on N2 airport area crime

Abie Isaacs, chairperson of the Cape Flats Safety Forum, questioned the swift police reaction to the smash-and-grab incident involving the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, compared to their reaction to other crime incidents in the area.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The quick response sends a message that people in higher circles receive preferential treatment, while those in poorer communities wait far longer for police to react.

“Let’s level the playing field. Countless smash-and-grab incidents have been reported on the roads to and from Cape Town International Airport, yet they never received the same level of attention,” Isaacs said.

Cameron and two fellow DA MPs, Nicholas Gotsell and Lisa Schickerling, were on their way to the airport from an oversight visit at the Philippi SAPS training academy on Tuesday, 19 August, when three suspects smashed their windows with bricks.

Cameron and Gotsell were injured in the incident, which occurred on the corner of Eisleben and Govan Mbeki Road near Phillipi.

Motorists have long been vulnerable to smash and grabs and hijackings in areas such as Philippi and various routes to the airport, with key hotspots being the N2 exit, the Nyanga turn-off, Borcherds Quarry Road and the R300.

National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola said it was “a direct attack on the safety of citizens and will not be tolerated”.

“We are sending a stern warning to all those involved in serious and violent crimes; the SAPS has deployed all available resources to ensure that criminals are hunted down, apprehended, and put behind bars to face the full might of the law.”

Cameron was armed during his visit to Philippi and  shot one of the suspects, an 18-year-old, who was later arrested at Lentegeur Hospital. According to reports, the weapon is being taken for ballistic testing. 

A second suspect, a 26-year-old, was arrested on Wednesday, 20 August, in Brown’s Farm. A third suspect has also reportedly been arrested. They are facing counts of attempted murder and attempted hijacking.

Another MP targeted

The attack on Cameron is not the first time an MP has fallen victim to criminals targeting motorists travelling to Cape Town’s airport.

The IFP’s Liezl Van der Merwe, who frequently travels along the N2, infamously known as the Hell Run, claimed recentlythat criminal syndicates are using children to rob motorists of their cellphones when they stop at traffic lights in the vicinity of the airport.

In 2024, she was leaving the airport and was robbed near Borcherds Quarry Road, leading towards Elsies River/Bishop Lavis. She stopped at a traffic light with her phone on the steering wheel when she noticed a child approaching from the side of her car. The window was slightly open and the boy forced his hands through the window.

“Within seconds, he grabbed my cellphone from my hand. I got out of my car and actually ran after the child. He disappeared but I could see some bigger people waiting for him. That’s how I know it is a syndicate because the police confirmed these younger kids are the ones stealing the equipment,” she told Daily Maverick.

She said the experience was “also traumatic because the police weren’t helpful. They just took my statement, said it happens often, they get multiple complaints each day and they are aware of syndicates but can do little”.

Following his attack, Cameron told the media that some police officers who had responded had also been victims of crime.

“We must use this incident to highlight the plight of the people in the area. Instead of criticising, we should say why do we not see the same reaction when it happens to ordinary citizens.” 

In May 2025, Van der Merwe pressed then police minister Senzo Mchunu in Parliament over the lack of visible policing on routes near the airport.

Mchunu stated that between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 42 cases were reported to police at the airport, including bricks hurled at cars and smash and grabs at the exit off the N2 into Borcherds Quarry Road near Nyanga. 

Hundreds of other cases are reported at other police stations each year.

“The apparent lack of visible policing in and around Cape Town International Airport – particularly in the landside areas such as traffic intersections, roadways, and vehicle queues – is not due to an absence of the policing capability at the airport, but rather that the geographical positioning of the policing assets is done according to a structured formula,” Mchunu said, emphasising the word “apparent”.

Murder on the R300

At around 8pm on Saturday, 26 July 2025, Amanda Manentsa’s car suffered a tyre burst on the R300, a stretch of road notorious for criminal elements who scatter spikes across the highway.

At 8.15pm, the 41-year-old informed a colleague that her tyre had burst. However, when the colleague arrived, he found her slumped behind the wheel. A bullet hole was visible in the driver’s side window and Manentsa had been shot in the neck.

The motive is unknown: nothing was stolen, and the suspects remain at large.

This fatal shooting incident was preceded by a brick-throwing incident on 13 July. A woman was injured when a concrete block hit her car on the N2’s Hell Run  near Borchards Quarry Road. She was travelling with her partner to the airport when the brick shattered the passenger window, injuring her face.

In that case, Nyanga police are investigating an attempted murder nearby but no arrests have been made.

Following those two attacks, Freedom Front Plus councillor Emre Uygun called for an emergency meeting of the Western Cape and Cape Town governments to develop a plan to tackle violence on the N2 and R300.

“According to reports, Sanral’s monitoring system recorded over 200 crime-related incidents on the N2 and R300 in Cape Town in 2023, including stone-throwing and robbery targeting motorists,” Uygun said.

“It is alarming that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on this stretch of road are non-functional, and visible policing is clearly inadequate,” he sa

Read more: Visitors warned to be alert on Cape Town’s N2 ‘Hell Run’

Cameras

South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) Western Cape spokesperson Randall Cable denied  claims that CCTV cameras were not working during these incidents. 

He said 60 cameras and static security surveillance on six pedestrian bridges along the N2/R300 priority zone are monitored by the Cape Town Metro Police’s Strategic Surveillance Unit (SSU), which also has access to all Western Cape Freeway Management System (WC FMS) feeds.

“All available footage from the CCTV cameras in proximity to the incident on the R300 on the night of 26 July 2025 have been handed over to SAPS and forms part of their investigation. We can confirm that the WC FMS cameras in question on the R300 freeway were and remain functional,” Cable said.

Regarding the traffic surveillance cameras on the N2, R300 and N1, Cable said the system, a collaboration between the City of Cape Town and Sanral that was introduced in 2010, “consists mainly of a network of 285 CCTV cameras, 54 variable message signs, and other field devices deployed along the freeway network”.

He said a team monitors these feeds 24 hours a day “to detect and manage the incidents accordingly”.

Referring to the section of N2 freeway between Jakes Gerwel and Baden Powell interchanges, and the R300 between AZ Berman and the  Van Riebeeck Interchange, which are regarded as the N2/R300 priority zone owing to high levels of crime-related incidents, Cable said Sanral had recorded the following statistics:

• 621 crime-related events in 2023;
• 564 crime-related events for 2024; and
• 362 crime-related events so far in 2025.

Addressing the concerns about response times to crime incidents along the N2/R300 priority zone, Cable said the average response time to these incidents is four minutes, with 91% being responded to within five minutes.

Previous incidents

Daily Maverick has reported on several incidents, particularly related to stone-throwing on the N2 and other connecting roads:

• In March 2023, Leonie van der Westhuizen died after a rock shattered the car window and struck her in the head, triggering cardiac arrest;
• In July 2023, a 21-year-old student from Inscape in Stellenbosch, Lucilla Vlok, had her jaw fractured when a rock was hurled through her car window while she was driving on the N2 to Cape Town International Airport (CTIA;
• In October 2023, Los Angeles couple Jason and Kate Zoladz were en route to Cape Town International Airport via Philippi when a brick shattered their car window, forcing them to stop. Four men approached their rental car and robbed them at gunpoint; and
• Walter Fischel (55) from Connecticut in the US was shot in the face and robbed in November 2023, after landing at CTIA and directed by a navigation service through Nyanga to Simon’s Town.

City responds 

JP Smith, the Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said the City of Cape Town had introduced dedicated patrols on the N2 in 2015 after attacks on motorists, and expanded them with the Traffic Service’s Highway Patrol Unit (HPU). He said even more resources were allocated in March 2025.

“Between July 2024 and February 2025, the Metro Police Department and Traffic Service’s HPU responded to more than 4,000 vehicle breakdowns, due to mechanical faults, and made nearly 350 arrests. 

“In addition to the request for additional [law enforcement] personnel, we also have CCTV monitoring to help extend our reach along with drones for pre-planned operations, and I have engaged all the relevant stakeholders to implement better walling solutions for hotspots on these major routes to decrease the number of pedestrians and animals on the road to improve public safety,” Smith said.

The City has tabled a draft budget that includes an allocation of R20-million for 44 additional Metro Police officers to work on a shift rotation to shore up patrols in the hotspots.

Airports Company South Africa responds

While vehicles are often attacked on their way to the airport, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said it has little control over incidents outside the airport precinct, because it only prioritises safety within the airport precinct.

Acsa spokesperson Thea Govindsamy said: “On sharing safety information, Acsa works closely with authorised airport transport operators and car rental agencies to reinforce guidance and provide information to passengers. 

“In partnership with various government and tourism agencies, we also support broader awareness campaigns aimed at promoting safer route planning and avoiding known risk areas. Current messaging encourages road users to remain on the N2 and avoid high-risk roads and intersections.”

Govindsamy  said that when safety threats or emerging risks are identified, they are escalated to SAPS for action. The collaborative approach helps ensure both a proactive and reactive response across the precinct, she said.

She advised travellers who wanted to use metered taxis or e-hailing services that “Acsa warns against unauthorised individuals’ transport providers, allowing only authorised airport metered taxis, and app-based e-hailing services from Parkade 1’s ground-floor pick-up zone at CTIA”. DM