A minute of silence was held at the start of a Tokai Forest joint security patrol on Saturday 30 July in honour of Mthobile Ndyumbu, the Fidelity ADT armed response officer who was gunned down in Claremont last month.
“We reminded each other that keeping communities safe is not without personal risk and that we owe a debt of gratitude to all those who extend their care and service to us,” said Nicky Schmidt, the chair of Parkscape.
Organised by the community-environmental non-profit organisation, the monthly joint security patrol is done by members from Fidelity ADT, Tokai Neighbourhood Crime Watch, Kirstenhof Crime Watch, Westlake Neighbourhood Watch, Lakeside Community Watch, the Tokai District Riding Association and South African National Parks (SANParks) Honorary Rangers. (The honorary rangers were unable to participate on 30 July).
Besides the monthly patrols, members of the Parkscape security group are present every day in the forest.
“We find that visibility is very important and user numbers are very important. The higher the user numbers, the less likelihood there is of incidents.”
Also joining the patrol on Saturday was Carolynne Franklin, councillor for Ward 71.
Franklin says events like these build a sense of community.
“The high visibility aspect of it is important because people, I think, have been nervous possibly of coming to the park and especially with Covid. We have all retreated into our homes and this is such an amazing asset,” says Franklin.
Schmidt shares that the issues at Tokai Park at the moment are car jamming and car break-ins alongside Dennendal Road and at the two parking lots on Orpen Road. She says there has also been a couple of muggings in the past few years.
“People don’t like to report these kinds of crimes. We really need people to report incidents, because the police need the numbers, SANParks needs to know the numbers. Then you can say, look, there are issues. If people don’t report it, then nobody knows.”
