CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has defended the City of Cape Town's plans to build a wall along the N2 highway.
Additionally, it rejected critiques which suggest the project is an admission of failure to transform and develop communities affected by crime.
Speaking at the We The Nation Election debate in Cape Town on Sunday, Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis insisted that it's an anti-crime project.
"Not at all. The fact of the matter is that it is far too easy for pedestrians and people with malign intent to access a national highway. It cannot be that easy to access the national highway," he said.
He pushed back on suggestions that there are reactionary motives for this move.
"There are political parties and political commentators who ascribe or impute different motives to something. But that's their issue. That's not our issue," he said.
The City has allocated R114-million in its adjusted budget for the N2 Edge safety project.
The wall along a 9km stretch of the N2 is meant to improve safety in tandem with beefed-up highway patrolling.