The newly formed Westdene Community Policing Forum cracked down on poachers at the Westdene Dam on 18 September.
“I was locking the gates at the dam late at night when I noticed a parked bakkie,” CPF member Frikkie Botes recounted on 23 September.
“I confronted the bakkie’s owner and asked him what he was doing. He said he was fishing with nets. Fishing with nets at the dam is illegal.”
Botes contacted other members of the CPF immediately, and he said seven of their members were on the scene in two minutes.
Mark Napier, Westdene Resident’s Association member arrived at the other side of the dam and decided to check the area. Accompanied by other CPF members and his dog, he found two teenage boys hiding in a boat on the island in the middle of the dam.
“We shone torches and we saw the blue colour of the boat,” he said.
“We started shouting and telling them to come out. They were just kids, one remained hiding in the boat.”
Napier said the teenagers were cooperative. “Their boss (the man who was caught by Botes) apparently paid them if they get enough fish. They caught six enormous barbers that night, and they’ve been fishing there at nights for a long time.”
Napier and Botes said that a woman was sleeping on the back of the bakkie during the entire debacle.
Sophiatown Police was contacted and took the suspects into custody. The police also allegedly took the boat, the nets and the caught fish into the station for evidence.
“But they were let go almost immediately, and what’s worse, the police let them take the fish and dropped them off back at the dam,” Botes said.
Napier said he wanted to open a case against the Sophiatown Police Station. “They (the police) screwed it all up and this is not the first time,” he said.
“They let him go, saying that he had a fishing licence. His fishing licence was expired, and it was issued for ocean waters in Natal, not Westdene Dam. They’ve let many offenders go and meanwhile, the criminals are feasting on Westdene because they’re not being held accountable.”
Sophiatown Police spokesperson Warrant Officer TJ de Bruyn said that the matter would be investigated and they would respond in due time.
