Cape Town’s road of hell

The N2 highway between the Cape Town International Airport and the city centre is so dangerous that it has been dubbed the “hell run”.

Over the last few years, many South Africans have been attacked and even murdered on the N2 and the roads feeding into it.

Criminals throw rocks from bridges or the roadside to smash windshields and force cars to stop, and exploit traffic congestion to rob motorists.

Spikes or debris are sometimes placed on the road to cause punctures, which the criminals use to stop cars and ambush those in the vehicle.

Last year, anti-crime activist Paul Treleven shared chilling first-hand accounts of deadly attacks along this stretch of road.

He told Biznews that he and his wife were driving back from Hermanus to catch a flight when they were attacked.

A criminal threw a block of concrete at their car, which smashed into their wife’s headrest. If it were not for her bending down at the time, she would have been dead.

However, she still got seriously injured. The glass cut her face, and her eyes, and she could not see.

Shaken and bleeding, the couple tried to escape. However, two men in a car pulled up alongside, shouting that Treleven had hit a child and demanding that he stop.

He knew it was a setup, and Treleven had to act quickly to avoid becoming another statistic in attacks on this dangerous road.

“They cut in front of me, slowed down, put their hazards on and tried to box me in. I swerved around them and drove straight to the airport,” he said.

“All the while I was calling the emergency number, and to this day nobody has answered.”

Many other attacks in this area

Vergelegen managing director Wayne Coetzer said many of his staff have been victims of smash-and-grab attacks and rock throwing on the N2.

Coetzer’s son was nearly killed on this road. Criminals threw a boulder at his car when he was travelling on the N2 near the airport.

“If it had been an inch closer, it would have killed him. It went through the back window and landed in the back seat,” he said.

“My biggest concern is not only our people who drive that road daily, but the tourists,” Coetzer told Biznews.

“Every international buyer, every wine lover, has to use that road. If something happens to them, it turns off the taps for every hospitality business in this valley.”

Karin van Aardt, a retired teacher from Nelspruit, was not as lucky as Treleven’s wife or Coetzer’s son.

Last month, Van Aardt and her husband travelled from the Cape Town International Airport towards Vredenburg to celebrate their granddaughter’s birthday.

While stuck in traffic at the intersection of Jakkalsvlei Avenue and Jakes Gerwel Drive, a man smashed the passenger window.

The assailant lunged into the car to grab her handbag and stabbed her multiple times in the chest during the struggle.

Her husband managed to drive away and flag down another motorist, who guided them to Netcare N1 City Hospital. Tragically, she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Coetzer and Treleven said the wave of violent attacks on the N2 near Cape Town has been happening for 21 years.

“Tourists have died, South Africans have been shot after stopping on the roadside, and countless unreported attacks make the official statistics meaningless,” they said.

Building a wall

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced plans for a significant security project to address the violence on the N2 highway.

In December 2025, the Mayor confirmed that the City of Cape Town intends to build a high-security wall to separate the highway from surrounding high-risk areas.

The City of Cape Town has long argued that responsibility for the N2 rests with the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the provincial government.

These responsibilities surrounding this national road include maintaining footbridges, fencing and road medians.

However, Hill-Lewis said the city has decided to step in due to the ongoing danger faced by motorists and persistent violent attacks.

Hill-Lewis confirmed that the city is planning to erect a security wall along the section of the N2 around the airport, despite the significant cost involved.

The estimated price tag is R180 million, and funding for the project is being prepared as part of the city’s upcoming medium-term revenue and expenditure framework.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) welcomed the decision. The party said that it would help improve motorist safety along the dangerous stretch of road.

Organisations like the South African Human Rights Commission and local community groups have criticised the plan.

They argue that the wall may reinforce apartheid-era spatial planning and that the R180 million would be better spent addressing the root causes of crime.

Hill-Lewis dismissed these criticisms, saying the investment is needed to address the safety problems and make citizens safer.