Cape Town has approved a R115 million security wall along the N2 highway near the airport, responding to escalating attacks on motorists along what locals call the hell run.
The City of Cape Town's adjustment budget allocates R7 million for design work this year, with R108 million earmarked for construction in 2027. The project aims to protect drivers on a stretch of highway where attackers armed with stones and firearms have targeted vehicles, Daily Maverick reported.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis defended the decision with urgency: "If I've got a limited time to make a difference for the public, I'm going to use that time effectively. I have, frankly, finished writing letters. We're now just going to do it."
Beyond the barrier itself, the project includes new pedestrian crossings, enhanced lighting, access control measures, embankment landscaping, and safety improvements for recreational areas. The city deployed 45 metro police officers to the area in October 2025 and installed CCTV cameras with automatic number plate recognition.
But critics see troubling symbolism in literally walling off vulnerability. Good Party councillor Chad Davids countered that "a wall that does not stop crime, does not create jobs, does not build communities."
In South Africa, as across post-conflict societies, the journey from apartheid to true equality requires generations—and constant vigilance. The debate over the N2 wall reflects deeper tensions about security, spatial inequality, and whether physical barriers can address social fractures.
South Africa's landscape remains marked by divisions—gated communities, electric fences, private security. The proposed wall evokes apartheid-era spatial planning, when authorities used physical infrastructure to separate communities along racial lines. Yet proponents argue this is pragmatic safety, not social engineering.
The attacks on the N2 often involve GPS misdirections that lead drivers into vulnerable areas, highlighting how technology intersects with crime in unexpected ways. The corridor connects the airport to the city center, making it both economically vital and symbolically important.
The City's shift from "writing letters" to building walls suggests frustration with provincial and national government responses to crime—a recurring tension in South Africa's multi-level governance system. Cape Town, governed by the Democratic Alliance, frequently clashes with the ANC-led national government over policing and safety.
Whether a R115 million wall addresses root causes or merely moves crime elsewhere remains the central question—one that resonates across South Africa's ongoing struggle to deliver safety and dignity to all citizens, three decades after democracy's arrival.
