Thieves drawn to vacant ECDC site
AN ABANDONED Eastern Cape Development Corporation factory in Fort Jackson is attracting criminals to their area, say local business owners.
The building, used up until recently as a laundromat, is situated next to Mdantsane’s Respect Tombstones premises.
When the Dispatch visited the site, the building appeared to have been vandalised with all electrical fittings, basins, fire extinguisher pipes and copper cables, stolen.
Business owners claim the vacant building has attracted thieves to their businesses.
ECDC regional head Lesley Govender said security guards looked after vacant ECDC factories in Fort Jackson, but when the Dispatch visited the site last Thursday there were no guards and the building was not locked.
Michael Goodwin from Respect Tombstones said: “The situation is out of control. There is no security at these premises, [and] our reports to the ECDC have fallen on deaf ears.
“We got to work a few weeks ago and our metal items had been stolen. The thieves seem to be interested in stealing metal and copper.
“Following reports, [ECDC] officials said they would hire a security guard but that has not happened, instead the state of the building keeps getting worse.”
Another worker, Wollie Wolmerans, said: “When that business was operating there was never any break-ins but when the tenants left [it] started and the thieves saw opportunities to break into other businesses as well.”
Govender said the “sporadic vandalism allegedly taking place in Fort Jackson happened in instances where tenants had vacated premises without notifying ECDC”.
“In a recent case where a tenant operating from three sites unceremoniously vacated the premises overnight without notifying ECDC, those sites were vandalised that same night.
“It should also be noted that security guards posted at ECDC industrial areas are deployed to guard only the vacant factory sites.
“The tenants have to organise their own security at factories that they operate,” he said, adding they were busy restoring the factory that they had complaints about with the assistance of a prospective new tenant. —