ALONGSIDE the slide, the swing and monkey bars, the seesaw has won a coveted place in parks around the world. But in addition to being a children’s toy, it was also the subject of a weird series of events in Durban North recently.
This after a newly painted seesaw in a park on Graham Place was stolen, deemed too heavy to carry, and then dumped on a resident’s verge a road down from the scene of the crime. The seesaw has since been re-installed at the park. It’s believed the thieves were going to sell the teeter-totter for scrap metal.
A municipal official who did not want to be named said she thought it was an April Fools joke when she heard about it. “They’d taken the entire long bar with the the handlebars and the two wooden seats. The only thing left that we saw when we were called out was the fulcrum (centre point of seesaw). It was repainted recently so it must have looked new,” the baffled official said.
“Curiously a day after the theft, the contractor was brainstorming how to replace it, and a resident drove past asking if they were looking for a seesaw. He told them it had been dumped in his yard on Balgownie Crescent. Thankfully there is a happy ending and the seesaw is back where it should be,” she said.
Ward councillor Heinz de Boer said playground theft was not uncommon. “Playgrounds are common hunting grounds for scrap metal salvagers. This may seem like a crime without a victim, but it certainly has many victims. These kind of items aren’t easy to find or replace. It’s absolutely shocking,” De Boer said.
A local resident, Vincent Strydom, who took his children to the park a day after the seesaw was stolen, said he was disgusted at the theft.
“Whoever stole this equipment should be ashamed of themselves. This was a thoroughly selfish act, with no thought whatsoever given to the children who would be deprived of the use of the equipment. I’m glad the equipment was returned but this sort of behaviour is unacceptable,” Strydom said.
