Some Bedfordview residents have urged their fellow residents to stop supporting windscreen washers and beggars alike.
According to the residents, windscreen washers intimidate and verbally abuse motorists.
“The Bruma [Marcia Street and Albertina Sisulu] intersection is the worst. My daughters have been intimidated by those windscreen washers. There has to be something we can do about this as a community,” said one resident.
Echoing his sentiment was another resident who threatened to take matters into his own hands. “I carry pepper spray on me at all times and make sure I spray whoever intimidates and threatens my family. The problem, however, is that if motorists retaliate they will get arrested for defending themselves,” said the resident.
The residents were speaking at this month’s instalment of the Bedfordview Community Policing Forum (BCPF) held last Tuesday at the Belgravia Bowling Club on Florence Road.
Present at the meeting were also representatives from security companies, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) and SAPS.
Residents also came out in their numbers for the meeting.
BSAPS station commander, Colonel Mfihli Matlala and EMPD’s Superintendent Grant Glenn said they would engage their colleagues from the Cleveland SAPS as well as the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) under whom the area falls.
“If we all just stop giving them money they would not be at the corners. I believe they keep coming back because people are making it worth their while by giving them money,” said one resident.
In 2015 the BCPF partnered with residents in an initiative to rid the area of beggars.
At the time, residents were encouraged to pay donations to registered organisations that provided, among other things, shelter for the homeless.
During the meeting residents called on the EMPD to keep an eye on abandoned properties within the suburbs. “These people are living in the area and some of them give information to crime syndicates leaving the residents vulnerable. SAPS should also do more in terms of profiling these people so they know who they are,” he said.
JMPD has launched different campaigns to rid intersection of windscreen washers but to no avail.
