Wyndham Hartley

Parliamentary Editor

CAPE TOWN — The decision by the African National Congress-run Tshwane Metropolitan Council to turn the government housing estate in Pretoria into a boomed suburb was hypocrisy of the worst kind, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday.

President Thabo Mbeki has in the past criticised suburbs with access points boomed to control entrances and exits.

In August, Mbeki slammed housing development strategies that favoured the rich, such as gated communities and golf estates, saying they perpetuated apartheid settlement patterns.

The poor, he said, were condemned to "dusty, semideveloped land", while the best land was allocated to "gated communities and golf estates".

DA safety and security spokesman Roy Jankielsohn was commenting on reports that the council had approved an application for the closure of all streets in the suburb of Bryntirion where Mbeki and members of his cabinet stay when in the capital.

The Tshwane council has reportedly approved the permanent closure of Nassau Street, George Washington Boulevard, the Rotunda, Wenlock Road, Colroyn Road and Rothsay Road and the placing of perimeter fencing around the suburb.

The council was not available for comment.

"The government has consistently argued against residents protecting themselves through the erection of boom gates and other preventative security measures," Jankielsohn said.

"Yet, when it comes to the safety of senior members of government, then boom gates suddenly get the thumbs up."

South African Human Rights Commission chairman Jody Kollapen said in August that the number of permanent boom gates approved for Johannesburg by its council was a concern.

"Once granted, boom areas become closed areas because they can’t be monitored," he said.