Members of the Paulshof Hill community have decided to take their safety into their own hands.
About a dozen residents from around the area recently gathered on the corner of Hluhluwe and Isipingo roads, where a small patch of land lies open in a quad between four different fences, to instal barbed wire on two of the fences.
This is aimed at curbing crime in the area and to discourage people who might try and travel over the fences from doing so. With music, boerewors cooking on a portable braai and everyone lending a helping hand, the efforts were a fun way to deal with a serious issue.
“We’re working on two [of the four] fences [in the quad here], we’re placing barbed wire on the top of the fences and razor ribbon a little bit lower,” explained Phil Bradley, one of the volunteers on the day whose house backs on to the space.
“We’ll hopefully be done by mid-afternoon.”
Concerned for their safety, Bradley and the others dislike how many vagrants have moved into the area recently, and hope that these safety precautions will discourage strangers from travelling through this particular quad as well as other open spaces in the area. The influx of unknown people into the area, the residents say, is responsible for an increase in crime incidents.
“There’s no reason for anyone to be walking in this area,” he said.
“It’s not a shortcut to anywhere, it won’t get them to where they want to go quicker.”
Security has become an issue for those living in the area, so much so that they decided to do the work themselves.
“We’re just so fed up with crime, and with no one helping us,” explained Lita Jacobsen, who helped plan the efforts and helped on the day.
“It was easier to just raise the money ourselves so that we could prevent people coming into the servitude and keep them out of the Rietfontein Reserve.
“I’ve been reaching out to as many people as possible from the city via email and phone, but haven’t gotten anything back. We’re worried about crime. I know there are a lot of important issues in Johannesburg that they need to address, but my and my family’s safety is not negotiable.”
Residents have concerns about the Rietfontein Reserve, which links to the area they live in. Among their concerns is that the electric fence that surrounds the reserve stopped working in September, and that vagrants have allegedly started laying traps to catch animals in the reserve, which they access using the servitude on the corner of Hluhluwe and Isipingo roads.
The funds used to buy the wire and other supplies were raised by residents themselves as part of a Paulshof Hill committee’s work. While some volunteers worked on the fences during the day, others collected litter that had been thrown in the space before disposing of it.
Jenny Moodley, the general manager for stakeholder and public relations for Joburg City Parks and Zoo (which runs the reserve) confirmed to the Fourways Review that the electric fence surrounding the green space had stopped working because panels from the structure were stolen.
“Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo has requested that the private security service provider investigate the theft of the panels,” she said in an email.
“In the interim, City Parks is investigating the option to link the electrical fencing to the existing power supply. This will be undertaken once the fence is repaired.
“Three private security personnel are also deployed to the facility to safe guard infrastructure and they will be held accountable in this regard, if security is compromised in the Rietfontein Nature Reserve.”
She also said that if residents around the city (including in Paulshof Hill) had any concerns about the City Parks spaces in their neighbourhoods, the entity hoped they would report them to the official hotline.
“Residents are invited to report any suspicious activity to the City of Joburg’s anti-theft hotline on 0860 562 874 or 0860 JOBURG,” Moodley concluded.
The Paulshof Guardians and Community Policing Forum invite residents in the area to take an active role in crime prevention in the area.
If you are interested in learning more about the organisation or joining up, please email security@paulshof.org
Related article:
