As thousands of excited school-leavers started arriving in Plettenberg Bay on Friday for one of the biggest student festivals in the southern hemisphere, local authorities launched one of the largest joint safety plans in the event’s history.
The annual Plett Rage, which attracts more than 10 000 youngsters to the coastal holiday town every year, got under way on Friday and will run until December 8.
The festival has two new official venues following the unavailability of last year’s venue, The Meadows. Day-time activities will be held at the town’s Central Beach - dubbed Bikini Beach for the festival - and night-time entertainment will be hosted on a Rietvlei property dubbed Coco Valley, about 3km outside town.
The spokesperson for Plettenberg Bay Crime Prevention Association (PBCPA), the organisation co-ordinating safety efforts, Marius Venter, said this year’s security plan involved co-operation between a large group of authorities and organisations.
“Everyone is working on this, from the police and the PBCPA to non-profit organisations and locals. It is definitely the biggest operation yet.”
One of the major focus points of the security plan is the transport of students. This year transport, via designated service providers, will be free to students travelling designated routes to and from Coco Valley between 7pm and 4am.
Another new feature is that as long as students stay within the town’s residential area, the taxi associations have committed to dropping them at their accommodation on their homeward journey, to avoid students walking home at night.
Daytime and non-designated routes will be “cash rides”.
The agreed rates will be displayed in each accredited taxi.
About 15 cellphone numbers will be circulated to the students and student accommodation establishments to enable youngsters and those hosting them to call authorised taxis.
There will also be three buses on standby to supplement the transport system in the event of congestion, to move the students as quickly and safely as possible.
Venter said because student accommodation was set to be spread over a wide area again this year, various authorities would be monitoring student movement across the town through intense patrols.
Several police patrol vehicles and officers will be deployed to focus on events at Central and other beaches, the N2 towards Coco Valley and the residential areas where students are to stay. Police will also conduct foot patrols and may patrol on horseback.
Plettenberg Bay police station commander Colonel Nolan Michaels said several resources from outside Plett had been called in to assist during the festival, including the Eden police cluster, public order police, the mounted police "and various other role-players".
Bitou’s law enforcement unit will also patrol along key points while local provincial traffic departments will be deployed to ensure the safety of revellers on the town’s roads.
The PBCPA will also run the Venue Operations Centre at Coco Valley and deploy its newly acquired mobile operations caravan to serve as an external Joint Operations Centre at the entrance of Plett.
The centre will also be a gathering and reporting venue for those operating outside the venue.
Members will keep a watchful eye on vulnerable students and monitor Plett Rage taxi compliance, among other duties.
There will also be civilian patrols, private and event security at the venues, Red Frogs assistance to vulnerable students, Medlife Ambulance services for medical emergencies and the NSRI for beach-related emergencies.
Bitou mayor Peter Lobese said the fact that so many pulled together to ensure the safety of students and visitors showed that in Plett, “community” was more than just a word.
“It is practice. Through this, we want to show to the world that Bitou is safe and welcome all children and their parents to our beautiful town,” Lobese said.