Musgrave residents urged to get involved

RESIDENTS need to report their claims if they want to get help.

That was the consensus when the Lower Morningside CPF met with Ward 27 councillor, Ernest Smith. Gary Manthe, Lower Morningside CPF chairman, said residents need to lodge their complaints officially.

“Because what happens is that when we have a meeting with the police and say that we need another van to patrol the area, they point to their statistics and say that there’s a low number of reported incidents but that’s reflecting what is happening on the ground,” said Manthe.

One way that residents can do this is by downloading the MyMorningside application. The recently updated app makes it easier for residents to lodge complaints, faults and crime. The back-end of the app is linked to the relevant official emails for the police and municipality and generates official reference numbers as if the resident was complaining directly.

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Manthe said the app saves residents from spending time searching for complaint directories. “This would also help us collect the information and present it to the police to show them what’s happening. We just need residents to be a bit more active and niggle the authorities,” said Manthe.

Other issues the CPF discussed with the councillor ranged from a rise in vagrants, petty crime and prostitution. Smith urged residents to join the CPF and take part in the street patrols.

“We need the private sector to come on board and we also need the (eThekwini) municipality to up its game because it is getting money from people for services but you have DSW (Durban Solid Waste) workers striking and homeless people coming and begging this is all the municipality’s job,” said Smith.

As a ward councillor, Smith said he does his own patrols at times but cannot do the work of the police.

“The problem is when you say you can’t allocate more vehicles because we don’t see the demand and that’s when everybody here starts complaining,” he said.

Manthe and other concerned residents went on a clean up this weekend across lower Morningside.

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