Desperate residents in Ward 1’s Reservoir Road & Connaught in Lennox Estate neighborhood have taken security into their own hands, contributing money out of their own pockets to hire a private night guard after unkept municipal promises left a nearby bush overgrown and overrun by criminals.
According to local residents, basic municipal service requests including critical bush clearance and speed bump installations – have been completely ignored by the Buffalo City Metro (BCM), despite explicit assurances made during local by-election campaigning earlier this year.
Ward 1 resident and community worker Cindy Bobbs told the Go! on Monday municipal officials and political candidates only showed interest when votes were on the line.
“Prior to the by-elections earlier this year, Ward 1 and Ward 10 were up for grabs. Most of our councillors didn’t even know of our existence,” Boobs said.
“They just came out for by-elections campaign and pretended to hear us – promising the bush clearance will be done and the speed bumps also… up until today, we’re still battling.
“We only had people cleaning up a small section in this area and that is it.”
The overgrown vegetation has since become a major security hazard, creating an ideal hiding place for criminals targeting vulnerable community members during the day and night. The danger of these uncleared bushes was highlighted by a grim discovery earlier this winter.
“On youth day, there was a body that was picked up in this bush. We don’t even know how long that body was lying there.
“It was decomposed already when SAPS came and collected the body,” said Bobbs.
Community worker and local resident Steve Greyling said the uncleared bushes regularly harbor muggers who prey on school-going children walking home and target the area’s predominantly elderly residents.
“At night this place is dangerous. We have retired people, generation after generation living here,” Greyling said, noting that residential break-ins have spiked across the neighborhood.
Earlier this month criminals attempted to break into the nearby BCM water services laboratory building. The break-in was only foiled because of a private security guard paid for directly by the neighborhood.
“Each family in the area is contributing for a security guard, because the crime is bad in our area. “Our kids are getting robbed – our boys of 9 and 10 years old getting knives held to their necks, phones getting taken away, bicycles have been taken away,” Greyling said.
“We complained, we complained, nothing happened. Now, the community has to take money out every month – each house has to take R100 out to make a salary for the night guard.”
Compounding their frustrations is an illegal, informal taxi rank that has taken over a local street corner, creating severe traffic obstruction and a growing public health hazard.
“We didn’t bother about the taxi rank before… everyone’s got to make money. But I want you to come and see how they are parking.
“They are parking on traffic, blocking our corners. We can’t even get out here and we’ve been complaining about that,” Greyling said.
Bobbs said that the complete lack of public ablution facilities at the illegal rank has severely degraded the neighborhood’s living conditions and impacted local property values.
“Because they’re waiting for clients, they’re using the bushes to relieve themselves.
“So, if you walk through this bush, it’s no longer a pleasant smell,” Bobbs said.
“A resident in this street is trying to sell his house, but he can’t sell his house if that section is utilised as a taxi rank and with that smell in the air.
“There are also vagrants breaking into our houses and running into the bush.”
Enquries were sent to SAPS and BCM, but they did not respond at the time of going to print.
