Police Minister Bheki Cele said that Cape Town had seen an uptick in crime since the taxi strike started, with 26 deaths being reported in the past two days.
However, the minister could only confirm five deaths linked to the strike.
Cele addressed the media at the Cape Town station deck taxi rank on Tuesday, where a taxi protest a week ago sparked the current strike.
The minister said that most police resources had been diverted to dealing with the strike.
Cele added that this had seriously hampered crime-fighting efforts in Cape Town.
“For the long history of the city, we have taken all our forces to concentrate on this. Monday and Tuesday we lost 26 people that died here in the city because police are not doing their work. Police are doing the work that easily could’ve been resolved by the people responsible.”
