LOCAL businesses, authorities, police and community groups have joined forces to tackle the growing problem of vagrancy after a street child allegedly threw a broken bottle at Woolworths security guard in Bulwer Road recently.
Owner of Bulwer Park Service Station, Tony Ball, said the incident was an indication that the problem was getting out of hand. “Something needs to be done before the locals take the law into their own hands. We are sick and tired of being harassed by these children,” he said.
Ball said people needed to stop giving the children money or supporting them as this just fed the problem and kept them on the street.
According to Heather Rorick of Bulwer Community Safety Forum, she and ward councillor, Nicole Graham would be meeting with Woolworths and Metro Police to discuss the issue.
“The vagrants have become a huge problem in the Glenwood area – many of these same vagrants and street children have now taken to harassing shoppers outside Woolworths and also harass shoppers outside the entrances to Davenport Centre. They demand money for food, and are happy when shoppers actually give them cash rather than food. It has been witnessed by many residents (including myself) that when most of the vagrants or street kids get given food they go around the corner and sell it to workers in the area for half price or if they can’t sell it they throw it away,” she said.
Rorick said the children wanted money for glue sniffing or drugs. “With the influx and overcrowding now of vagrants in the area, ‘turf’ wars have started over begging spots at robots and street corners, as well as places to sleep. The BCSF has spoken to many of these people, many say they do not have TV or newspapers to hear about programmes or places to help them, such as the programmes at King DinuZulu Park. All they know is they were chased away out of the city centre and from near Albert Park and are now here in our area,” she said.
Rorick said these people had nowhere to go, no money, no jobs and no food. Some of them were too weak to walk far to go for help.
“They say authorities must address them here as they were chased here by the police. There are many people living on the streets and in our parks at the moment, and this is causing huge problems for businesses and blocks of flats in the area as these vagrants and street children all gather and sleep in these blocks of flats and business doorways and along the pavement. The stench of them using the area for their toilet facilities has become really bad and is turning our area into a slum – as well as increasing crime in the area,” she said.
Woolworths head office confirmed the incident. “We can confirm that a bottle was thrown at one of our security guards recently. This incident took place during a routine patrol outside our store. The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority and as a tenant on Bulwer Road, we have joined other businesses in the area to try and address issues like this. As a precautionary measure, our security personnel as well as police have increased patrols in the area. We are also engaging our landlord and intend to engage the municipality further. As a further step we have also engaged NGO’s like I Care to help address the related social issues like substance abuse and homelessness.”
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