Wynberg-East residents who live close to a stretch of Prasa-owned land located along the train tracks are “serving a life sentence” as criminal activity in the area continues to escalate.
According to Salwa Beukes, chair of the Wynberg East Neighbourhood Watch (WENHW), says residents living in Vine Road, Sandhurst Road and Mitcham Road are at their wit’s end as pleas to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to clean up and safeguard their property goes unheard.
“The residents living in this area feel as if they are serving a life sentence, they have to build high walls, and install electric fencing, cameras and alarms which are monitored by various control rooms 24/7. They no longer have the freedom to walk their streets as the area is plagued by drug addicts,” says Beukes.
People’s Post first reported on the unsafe and unhygienic conditions prevalent at a stretch of Prasa-owned land located along the train tracks running parallel with Sandhurst Road and Castletown Road in Wynberg East in September last year.
Judy Ferdenando, the then chair of the Wynberg East Civic Association (Weca), told People’s Post how the civic organisation had pleaded with Prasa to maintain the area for months on end but with little results. She said the grass and the bushes on the land had been left to grow wild – in some instances as high as 2 m – forming a thicket ideal for rats to breed in and for people to hide within.
With more than a year having passed, Beukes says conditions have just become worse. So much so that she was even asked to take up residency in a house in Sandhurst Road while its owner is overseas. Before Beukes moved in, the property suffered no less than three attempted break-ins and two break-ins.
“There has been a surge of criminal activity in the area such as the use of illegal substances, house break-ins, harassment and loitering. Daily, residents witness drug addicts sitting in the overgrown areas of Prasa, shooting up heroin and using whoonga (a form of black tar heroin, sometimes mixed with other substances).”
She adds that it looks like a heroin party most days.
“It is so sad that kids see this behaviour. These little kids will grow up thinking this is normal so, therefore, okay to do. School kids walk by too and I think they have already accepted this as normal behaviour so they just carry on walking while others stop to purchase their drug of choice.”
Cheryl Arenz, the owner of a creche located in Sandhurst Road, says she has become concerned for the safety of their children, teachers and parents.
“We have had a creche for a long time and it has always been nice being here, but now lately, because of the overgrown fields, people are practically living there, doing drugs in there, everything,” says Arenz.
She says besides the drug use, people are also using it as toilet facilities.
“And when the wind blows, we have to also put up with that smell and the flies. It is totally disgusting.”
Arenz says it got so bad that they even considered moving, but decided to stay in the area because of the bonds they have built with the community.
She says they almost had to throw in the towel after the creche was broken into in the beginning of the year.
“They cleaned us out. Fridges, bedding, mattresses, toys, paper – they took everything. They even lit a small fire inside the creche and broke the plumbing. We were lucky that we managed to continue but that was only thanks to the help we received from everybody. Donations and so on.”
More recently, she says, she and her staff were harassed by an individual who lives in the overgrown field. She says the first time he was at the creche, he lit a piece of paper and pushed it through an open window.
“Luckily, one of our teachers saw it and pressed the emergency button. He also started to speak to our teachers, asking them about the alarm, about the cars parked here.”
Arenz says she has tried to reach out to Prasa, but to no avail.
“Four years ago, I met up with a guy from Prasa who promised to put up new fencing, but nothing materialised. Now they have made a hole in the fence right in front of our creche which they are using as a thoroughfare.”
Gabriel Cumpsty moved into the neighbourhood in mid-July. Within six weeks, there were three attempted break-ins at his property.
“When I bought the property, the perimeter wall was 1,7 m high and it had an artistically designed steel driveway gate. Since then, I have had to raise my wall 2 m high and put in a solid steel, reinforced gate. I had to do this. It is the only way I can feel safe.”
He says the problem with the train tracks is the holes in the fence and the tall grass. He describes an incident that happened on Monday 7 November at around 21:30.
“I ordered Mr Delivery and the driver arrived about five minutes before me. I had run out to the pharmacy. He was on his phone, replying to a message I had sent him when two guys came through a hole in the fence. One threatened him with a knife while the other stole his cellphone,” says Cumpsty.
He says this is but one example of the many incidents that have happened in the area since he moved there.
“They come through the fence, break into a house, run back, and just disappear.”
Beukes says Prasa is not coming to the party to clean up their property.
“What is the next step? As homeowners what are their rights and why do they have to seclude themselves or sell their properties to feel safe?”
People’s Post reached out to Prasa for comment. By the time of going to print, none had been received.
