The New Horizon Neighbourhood Watch in conjunction with the Department of Correctional Services spent Saturday morning, 29 January, cleaning the field behind the Pelican Park clinic in a bid to deter illicit activity.
Organiser of the clean-up operation Saadiqah Ganief, treasurer of the New Horizon Neighbourhood Watch, said a lot of illicit activities occur on the field.
“We embarked on our operation clean-up last year in January 2021 and each month we took on a section of the community where bylaws are mostly being broken. The reason we initially started with the open field behind the clinic is because of the illicit activity we find here.”
She added that between 02:00 and 04:00 is the main hours where you find people in the bush, doing drugs.
“Also, from 05:00 and 06:00 people need to pass this field for public transport and there was a concern from residents that they feared of being robbed because you can’t see who is hiding in the bush.
“Recently we have had residents complain at the clinic that there are criminal elements roaming around. And when it comes to illegal dumping you would find more crime activity of all forms in that section.”
Ganief said the department of correctional services is also embarking on their back-to-school campaign where offenders come out to communities and assist with cleaning up.
“We have a partnership for quite a few years now, they told us if we need labour and manpower we should call upon them to assist us in cleaning our fields.
“So today we not only cleaning the field for the environment but also cleaning up against crime and to keep the community safe.”
Adonis September, Project manager at the Mitchell’s Plain Community Corrections office, said offenders who were sent to community service via court were participating in the clean-up.
“We have a very good relationship with the neighbourhood watch. Today I have five people here to assist them with the cleaning of the field and they are parolees from Mitchell’s Plain community corrections. They are going to cut down the trees along the wall and pick up some paper and remove the dirt.”
He added that most of the parolees who participated in the programme were offenders of minor crimes.
Chadwin Gurling, a member of New Horizon Neighbourhood Watch, said the community is afraid to walk past the field due to the tall trees and bush where a potential robber could hide.
“The project for today is that all the bush in this field will be cut down. What happens here, is that vagrants sleep in the bushes and there is also a lot of drug activity.
“Around two to three years ago they found a dead body over here so that’ also one of the main reasons the community asked us to do this clean-up.”
