The old Crestway High School premises in Retreat has reportedly become an eyesore as a result of illegal dumping taking place there.
Ward 110 councillor Shanen Rossouw says when people started to complain, she told the school to contact the provincial government.
“Two people complained about the land, obviously there will be criminal activity taking place there.
“They vandalised the fence and I’ve sent numerous emails because that land belongs to province. It’s also a real eyesore.”
She adds that the illegal dumping is getting out of hand.
“We have to ask the community to assist us in cleaning up the area.”
Rossouw adds that illegal dumping at the premises has been a problem since last year.
Steenberg Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson Leanne Reid says dumping is an ongoing issue at all vacant sites in the greater Retreat area, including the old Crestway High School site.
“This is an issue that wastes valuable City resources through clean-up operations. The community is again urged to report perpetrators. If the culprit can be identified or a vehicle registration number is recorded, they can be reported to 086 010 3089.
“The Steenberg CPF Exco has emailed acting Community Safety MEC Anroux Marais for clarity around the future purpose of these premises and the department is currently responsible and accountable for its security and upkeep.”
She adds that while residents have singled out the site as a hotspot for crime, it seems they are not filing reports of the alleged incidents with the police.
“With regards to the Crestway High School property, incident reports with the police date back to October 2021. While the community has raised this site as a problem area, the lack of statistics indicates that residents are not reporting the crimes which makes it difficult for the police to build this risk into their operational plans effectively.
“Steenberg CPF urges victims of crime to report incidents to the police to support better resource allocation to hotspots.”
People’s Post reached out to the department, but despite a commitment to respond by yesterday (Monday 7 February), no feedback had been received by the time of going to print.
