Chatsworth finally joins the gated community
Boom times hit suburbs after spike in hijackings
CHATSWORTH has joined the list of suburbs in Durban forking out extra cash to install booms in a bid to keep criminal elements at bay.
Shallcross Community Policing Forum member Tony Govender said it was appealing to residents to consider becoming a Special Rating Area (SRA).
The spike in interest in Govender’s area follows reports of six hijackings in two weeks in three closely located streets.
“We understand that the police cannot be everywhere at once. The recent number of hijackings on just one road — the latest one where a mother had a gun held to her head — was just one too many. All the recent cases have the same modus operandi, which is worrying for us. We have to start seriously looking into keeping our residents safe. At least with booms in place, we will be able to control access,” said Govender.
The SRA initiative is a cityapproved one that requires home and business owners to pay an added fee to the municipality to get additional security.
Funds raised are also used to upgrade the area and clean the suburbs.
The Ethekwini municipal- ity has approved the SRA application for Kharwastan sector. Sagren Nair, a community member in charge of the programme in the area, said it would not be employing the use of booms in the streets making up the SRA.
“Booms are essentially illegal. Aside from that, we have about seven different entrances to the streets, so it just would not be feasible.
“We don’t want to waste the community’s money and will be looking at security guards for foot patrols.”
But fed-up with the level of crime in the area, another Shallcross zone and an Umhlatuzana region last year began their own programmes. Both have erected booms. One of the residents in the area said about 120 households benefited from the strategy.
“We decided to take care of ourselves. We have been dealing with a crime problem for the past nine years or so. In the year we have been operating in our area, there has not been a single incident in our streets,” said the resident.
Tozi Mthethwa, head of communications for the municipality, said other sites had also expressed interest in becoming special rating areas. “There have been inquiries from Phoenix industrial park, but nothing further has come of that. Last week, there were inquiries from another area in Kharwastan.”
She said the existing special rating areas included Durban’s CBD, northeast precincts, South Beach, Florida Road, Umhlanga promenade and village, Maytime, Burlington and Giba Gorge.
Govender said the local policing forum would hold a community meeting at Crossmead Primary School in Shallcross on Tuesday to discuss the proposal.
Communities considering making an application should contact Kevin Abbot on (031) 311-3475 or e-mail kevin.abbot@durban.gov.za