Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Bonteheuwel residents unite to beat crime rise
‘Don’t buy stolen goods’ campaign planned for the area
LIKE those in many gangand drug-ridden Cape Flats communities, Bonteheuwel residents battle to rid the area of a growing plague of crime.
From homes to churches, the local library, community halls which offer feeding schemes, and the civic centre, each has been a target of relentless vandals who deface properties and flee with stolen goods.
Now tensions among residents fed-up with the crime scourge have reached boiling point after the latest incident in which Cedar Primary School’s entire administration block was torched.
The school has been hit many times by vandals and burglars.
Last Sunday, the block which contains the principal’s office, a copy room, staff room, toilets, a kitchen and the secretary’s office, was razed in a fire apparently set by two burglars.
At around noon that day, two mothers whose children attend the school risked their lives in an attempt to nab the perpetrators when they spotted them leaving the grounds with two sports bags.
“I didn’t even think of my own safety,” said Kamielah Collins, who lives behind the school.
Collins and her neighbour Charmaine Lewis said the alleged thieves had entered the building through the roof. After raising the alarm, Collins tried to catch one of the men. But he escaped when he threw one of the bags at her.
In it she found computer equipment, sports clothing and stationery from the school.
The mothers quickly realised a fire had broken out in the school.
“We got a hosepipe and were carrying buckets of water to fight the fire, and we carried out three gas tanks as well. If those tanks had to explode… we would have been dead,” a still visibly shaken Lewis said.
Both women frequently monitor suspicious activity on the school’s premises, saying they once caught a man burning copper on the sports field.
“It’s disgusting what they are doing to the schools and this community, and people just turn a blind eye to the situation here,” said Collins.
Vandalism is a major problem throughout the area. At the old Bonteheuwel Post Office building, broken beer bottles, wine boxes, old clothes and shoes, and scorched wood form a mountain of rubble. The dilapidated walls that still stand are covered in gang signatures of the JFKs and 26s numbers gang.
Extramural activities which used to take place in the parking lot in front of the building have moved because the vacant property has become a hot spot for gang shootings and drug dealing.
“I used to coach soccer here with about 18 boys, but we couldn’t any more because there were shootings here every day at one stage. It’s not a bad area, but the gangs and lack of policing have made it bad,” said Mansoer Watson.
Also citing a lack of police resources and manpower, spokeswoman for the Bonteheuwel Joint Peace Forum Judy Kennedy said they had made countless appeals to the city, provincial community safety department, and even police commissioner Arno Lamoer.
“There has been a massive increase in break- ins and vandalism, and there are only two vans covering not only Bonteheuwel but Bishop Lavis, Charlesville and Montana. People’s homes get broken into, gates get stolen, at the civic centre they’ve stolen the vibracrete, paving, sinks are being stolen. When the post office moved it took about three hours for them to strip the building,” said Kennedy, adding that residents also complained of being robbed along Vanguard Drive in view of the police.
Acknowledging a lack of police resources, the community safety department said the problem existed across the province.
“Despite receiving some attention in the previous year, the backlog is still not dealt with adequately. This is not only a threat to the safety of our communities, but also places additional strain on the dedicated police men and women trying their best to serve their respective communities,” department spokesman Ewald Botha said.
Submissions highlighting the need for more manpower and police vehicles were “on the desks” of Lamoer, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega and Police Minister Nathi Nhleko.
Aside from their own efforts with the Bonteheuwel community in respect of safety in the area, Botha urged residents to become “active safety partners” by reporting crimes and assisting police to combat drugs and gangs.
Kennedy said the peace forum, initiated last year due to the escalating gang violence, did not want to “take on gangsters”, but rather aimed to restore pride in the area. She said due to the high crime rate and gang problem, the struggle to change Bonteheuwel’s tainted image and promote positive programmes to help keep the youth off the streets was an ongoing battle.
Kennedy said that on Monday, while the forum was hosting an emergency meeting with Cedar Primary’s staff and parents, a nearby church was broken into.
They will soon launch a “Hands off our schools! Don’t buy stolen goods!” campaign, a call Kennedy admitted was “sad” as residents themselves bought from the criminals. She said despite the apparent “peace” between rival gangs, they still needed money, and were funded by their trade in drugs.
A large march was also planned as they continued to fight to keep the area’s children safe, and to offer them a chance to succeed.