HIGHWAY residents, the local councillor and the DA have called on Transnet to clean up its act. It is the belief that should the railway lines through the Pinetown and Kloof areas be rehabilitated, the crime in the area would decrease significantly.
The DA shadow minister of transport and MP, Manny de Freitas, noted the infrastructure leads all the way to the port and cited the abandoned track was a ‘loss to the city’. “The infrastructure is here and is completely wasted,” said de Freitas.
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Alongside ward 18 councillor, Melanie Brauteseth, and CPF chairman, Justin Bosse, de Freitas was shown the M13 foot bridge that leads to another bridge over the railway line as well as the railway line that runs along Tracy Watts Road.
“Crime has rocketed as these are easy entrances and exits for criminals and dealers,” he said.
Bosse emphasised there were muggings happening on a daily basis on the foot-bridges.
“Transet has its assets, but there seem to be no measures in place to maintain them. It is just shocking. There is rubbish strewn along the tracks. The issues I will take up with them is why they aren’t doing something about it. If there was a tender issued to clean up area, then why are there no check-ups to see if the work is done and if there was no tender, find out why there isn’t one,” stressed de Freitas.
“My prediction is that if it was cleaned up, the crime would drop by at least 80 per cent. The sad part is it’s not unique to this area. Its countrywide. In terms of house breaking, if a thoroughfare is cleared, the visibility will be a deterrent. No lighting at the pedestrian bridge creates the perfect environment for crime,” said de Freitas.
Bosse said the peak times for muggings and shootings at the foot-bridge occurred between 6pm and 8pm due to the low visibility.
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“A big thank you to Manny for agreeing to come out and have a look. I hope the department takes responsibility of what needs to be done. There would be less criminal activity if they did the work they are supposed to,” said Brauteseth. “I extend my thanks to the neighbourhood watches and the community who, on a daily basis, help combat crime. It honestly would be a lot worse if it wasn’t for them.”
Transnet did not provide comment by the time of going to print.
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