The mega-project came as a shock to local role players as the department announced a new plan which would include large-scale excavation to make the station, which is perched on a steep hill, bigger, reports Cape Argus.
Initial plans proposed five years ago only entailed the upgrading of the 100-year-old building.
However, Muizenberg’s crime statistics pale in comparison with those of Khayelitsha and Nyanga.
According to Statistics SA, there were 27 murders reported in Muizenberg last year, while 279 people were killed in Nyanga and 161 in Khayelitsha during the same period.
A total of 288 robberies with aggravated circumstances cases were opened in Muizenberg last year, compared to 1503 recorded in Nyanga and 1226 in Khayelitsha.
Councillor Gerry Gordon, whose ward includes the Vrygrond area, said a better idea would have been to build a cop shop in Vrygrond, as poor residents have to travel more than 4km to Muizenberg to report a crime.
“We’ve been asking for one for eight years,” says Gordon.
Muizenberg councillor Aimee Kuhn said the Muizenberg station is located in a “white privileged area”, and multi-million rand upgrade “is not going to address apartheid spatial planning, which we are being criticised for not addressing.”