The area includes two parks Protea and Denver.
The vagrants have been reported many times as with many others all over Edenvale.
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) and SAPS remove them on a daily basis however they are soon released as they are not actually committing a crime according to the law enforcement agencies.
The apparent inability of state social services to deal with the problem or to provide accommodation or a place of safety and rehabilitation for them just compounds the problem.
The matter is going to be escalated to parliament via MP Mike Waters who will address a letter to the minister for his attention highlighting the many problems with vagrants and homeless people.
The Edenvale Community Police Forum, EMPD and SAPS have a joint strategy that they implement with regard to the problem however lack of support from the responsible government department is proving to be a serious obstacle in their crime fighting efforts.
Eskom has been working in Third Avenue for months and they used Denver Park to dump their excavation soil which destroyed the grass and the park area.
Many opportunist contractors saw this as an invitation to illegally dump their building and other rubble including a lot of refuse.
I confronted a resident who offloaded almost 20 refuse bags near a concrete dustbin at the bridge because he did not want to drive all the way to the dump.
This type of action also contributes to the current epidemic of illegal dumping in Edenvale.
The matter was dealt with after intervention by the Chief Operating Officer for Ekurhuleni Dr Imogen Mashazi.
Parks and waste departments cleaned up most of the rubbish and illegally dumped rubble was removed.
Eskom has given an undertaking that they will commence with the rehabilitation of the park in the next three months once they have finished the cable laying under the riverbed in Third Avenue.
They have further more agreed to finish off their work in Third Avenue, restore the residents’ pavements and clean up the area within six weeks.
This transpired after many complaints were received, a meeting by the resident with Eskom and many communications between Eskom, the metro, residents and myself.
There are several other areas in Edenvale with the same problem that is currently being attended to after being reported.
Residents need to report any form of illegal dumping as soon as possible to enable the authorities to take timeous action.
COMMENT – Spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago commented as follows:
The Edenvale precinct is continually making an effort to remove vagrants and homeless persons who invade council spaces resulting in an eyesore situation as well as creating a problem for residents.
In terms of wholly eradicating the problem, the EMPD has its hands tight as the problem is more complex than it is made to be.
It is a problem necessitating an integrated intervention from various departments.
Unless it is approached in that fashion, the EMPD will just be “marking time” in terms of solving the problem.
Notwithstanding, EMPD will continually endeavour to remove these people.
Similarly, the Edenvale precinct has had several successes in their effort to alleviating the problem of illegal dumping with the assistance of members of public who call the control centre for a prompt response. Illegal dumpers have been issued with fines and made to remove their rubble in some instances. Some of the vehicles used for dumping were found to be un-roadworthy and were discontinued.
The letter was also sent to the spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metorpolitan Municipality (EMM) Mr Samuel Modiba for comment as well as the Eskom media desk.
At the time of going to print neither the EMM or Eskom responded to the request for comment.
