Residents are frustrated by frequent house breakings occurring in the suburb.
Residale resident Sarah Bain said on 25 June she locked up and left her home in the afternoon and within an hour she had a call from her security company advising that her alarm had been set off. On arrival, she discovered a bar was bent back on one of the security doors but there was no sign of any intruders.
“Now my front gates have been damaged and I feel my safety has been compromised, ” she added.
Bain explained this was not the first incident. “Before this my neighbour told me intruders had cut through my fence bordering the koppie and entered my premises. While we were chatting, we spotted two or three vagrants watching us from the koppie. They are watching every move we make, why is there nothing permanent being done to prevent vagrants from squatting here?”
Risidale Montroux Residents Association chairman Ed Langton said in the last few days another property’s fence had been damaged several times.
He said, “An application will be submitted to City Parks to have the gates at the koppie permanently locked and only opened by arrangement. We cannot continue to have the residents harassed by the dwellers, living in fear of the next raid.”
City Parks’ spokesperson Noeleen Mattera said a ranger team had previously visited the koppie and reported that no vagrants were found. She added that rangers will visit the koppie at a time when vagrants will most likely be there. “Vagrants will be evicted and all illegal items will be confiscated. A special operation will be put in place for regular patrolling.”
Linden police station spokesperson Carol Mulamu said during operations, which are carried out in conjunction with Metro Police, Social Development, City Parks, Pickitup, Home Affairs and Customs, the vagrants are removed from parks and taken to a place of safety.
Ward 99 Councillor Bruce Herbert said there is no by-law that stops the vagrants from sleeping on the koppie but the council is working towards putting these by-laws in place.
