Residents in uproar over brazen drug use in Hillcrest taxi rank
Drug usage and a growing litter problem have become serious concerns for Hillcrest residents.
THE Highway Mail has been inundated with complaints from Hillcrest residents regarding the brazen use of drugs in the taxi rank on Old Main Road.
Marge Mitchell, from the Keep Hillcrest Beautiful Association (KHBA), said a non-profit organisation, the Phuma Okhaneni Garden Project, was launched more than 10 years ago to help empower the beggars in Hillcrest.
“We were told back then that many of them were taking drugs. What is sad is that many people offered them jobs for R200 a day but they told us they could make up to R500 a day by begging at robots,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said the brazen use of drugs in Hillcrest has only escalated.
“People are mainlining in the taxi rank and along Old Main Road. Drug use in the area is completely out of control!”
The KHBA is a small organisation in Hillcrest with a mandate to beautify and clean up the area.
“We clean up the verges on the outside of the taxi rank. Our team won’t enter that place as it is dangerous and I have to look after my staff from that point of view,” she said.
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A Hillcrest resident, Melody Olivier, said she witnessed a man, believed to be in his late 30s, purchase a syringe from the taxi rank and inject himself in front of her 11-year-old daughter.
“Hillcrest’s taxi rank is a den of drug dealers and it is getting worse. It is no longer the street beggars who are frequenting it – it is youngsters and educated adults alike,” said a concerned Olivier.
The communications officer for Hillcrest SAPS, captain Linzi Smith, urged residents to report drug crimes to 08600 1011 or to surrender information at the Hillcrest Police Station.
All information provided will remain confidential.
Read the full story in next week’s Highway Mail.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
