EIGHT illegal shacks were discovered in the bush along Riverside Road on Monday, 3 August during a joint operation between Marshall Security, SAPS, and the Umgeni Park Community Policing Forum (UPCPF).
Continued clean up operations will be necessary to clear the area of litter, said acting ward 36 councillor, Shontel de Boer who attended the operation.
“We found lots of shacks and we found people sleeping in the shacks. There were a lot of women. We need to do a follow up clean up because there is a lot of garbage in the area. The smell is terrible. I don’t know how people were living in those conditions because it was really bad. It looks like it’s something we need to continue to do once or twice a month- to clear out rubbish from the area,” she said.
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De Boer said representatives from the Department of Natural Resources, Land Invasion Unit and Department of Environmental Health were also sent out to the site.
Marshall Security director, Tyron Powell said the operation aimed to combat crime levels in the area.
“It was a proactive clean up operation for crime prevention reasons in the area,” he said.
Marshall security shared this video from the operation.
Spokesperson for the UPCPF, Brian Daish said the area is a nature conservancy.
“It was a necessary operation, we can’t allow people to live there as it’s a nature conservancy. Some of the people living there had chosen to leave the Moses Mabhida Stadium shelter. They were living in very unsanitary conditions,” he said.
Greenwood Park SAPS did not send their comment at the time this article was published.
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