Residents in the vicinity of West Ridge High School are at the end of their wits.
One of these residents, Jean-Pierre Ardinois who lives in the Jonkershoek complex opposite the school says he has had enough and will do anything to solve the problem.
According to Ardinois the pupils of the school are terrorising residents to such an extent that the elderly are living in fear and some want to move away.
Ardinois whose daughter attends West Ridge also is considering finding another school for her.
The problem comes as far back as five years but all attempts made by Ardinois and the body corporate to address the problem with the school have been fruitless.
Some of the pupils allegedly openly smoke dagga after school, gamble (the record has been witness to this and other forms of misbehaviour), block the entrance to the complex, interfere with the electric gate and have made a game out of harassing the residents via the intercom system, says Ardinois. When homeowners answer the intercom they get verbal abuse.
Most residents have given up the fight but Ardinois has vowed not to accept the school and principal Sidney Mashiga’s, “devil may care attitude”. (Ardinois refers to Mashiga as the “despot Principal King Louis the 14th”.)
“I have tried on many occasions to have a dialogue with the principal but he refuses to. The body corporate also has given up trying. All the school ever says is that what happens after hours off the school grounds is not their responsibility,” says Ardinois.
“It seems that the principal is not there to manage the school but only to draw a salary. I also do not understand why the Gauteng Education should not be aware of the problem,” he continues.
Ardinois also alleges that the school warns the pupils before police raids take place.
A further thorn in Ardinois’ side is the way motorists conduct themselves in Canary Street, which is a one-way. Parents, taxis and even police vehicles drive up the one-way the wrong way. Ardinois has a whole collection of photos to prove this but when he tried to report it to JMPD and SAPS their members told him “it is not our problem”.
“It is just a matter of time before a child either gets killed here or down the road at Horizon View Primary,” Ardinois sternly warns.
The record contacted Mashiga for comment but he declined.
The matter has been brought to the attention of Gauteng Education.
