Stolen goods housed in Bay greenbelts
Greenbelts haven for vagrants and suspected stolen goods
THE accumulation of stolen property in greenbelts around the Richards Bay CBD area has reached alarming rates.
This was discovered by the Community Protection Initiative (CPI), who in partnership with local security companies and community members, unearthed a mass of suspected stolen property during their recent patrols into several of the greenbelts.
According to CPI representative, Donald Pittendrigh housebreaking implements as well as numerous valuable items, suspected to be stolen during residential burglaries and house robberies, were retrieved from the greenbelt adjacent to the John Ross Parkway, which has an informal camp known as ‘Little Burundi’ .
Burundi has rapidly flourished over the last decade, despite the ongoing efforts of the municipal contracted security companies and the Richards Bay SAPS to demolish illegal structures, inspect inhabitants’ identity documents and deter people from living in the greenbelts.
Even when they are forced to vacate, the vagrants relocate to another area and the vacuum is simply filled by new people.
Tons of goods
‘There are literally tons of stolen goods lying in the bush, more than you could bring out in one 10-ton truck with anything from bicycles, computers, TV sets, CDs, electrical appliances, keys, remote controls to garden and workshop tools.
‘The place is literally crawling with flies and cockroaches and the air is heavy with the stench of human excrement.
‘The people living there claim to be ‘only bin scavengers’, a fact which is obviously disputed by the material lying around in the bush.
‘We have made several excursions into this bush and have seen the municipality’s security contractor as well as SAPS but this community is unconcerned by our presence and often even arrogant about their right to be there
‘There is a mix of people, foreigners and an influx of citizens from the northern areas coming here with the hope of finding work.
‘We are not saying that all these people are involved in criminal activity, as some are just trying to earn a living by collecting old scrap and materials for recycling, but some of the property found there has been identified as stolen items,’ said Pittendrigh.
Meanwhile, the Richards Bay SAPS has ongoing patrols and raids in the area and over the years has yielded success in linking some of the suspects through fingerprints to criminal cases.
