Blitz on public parks

A BLITZ on parks by local community watch groups and Metro Police is slowly showing results as residents report fewer vagrants in the parks where police and members of the Glenwood/Glenmore Community Watch and Bulwer Comunity Safety Forum have taken action.

Last week Berea Mail reported that residents in Glenwood and Umbilo felt parks in the suburbs had been forgotten by the municipality and left to fall into ruin as vagrants and prostitutes took over the open green spaces. In response, residents living near Meyrick Bennett Park added their concerns saying the park was home to a number of vagrants who appeared to be storing stolen goods in the trees and foliage during the day.

One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said the number of vagrants in the park was growing by the day. He was convinced they were dealing in stolen goods after observing their activities. He said the men gathered in the park around 8am, and would then leave for the day only to regroup at around 5.30pm. He said he had watched how a well dressed man arrived almost every afternoon to collect items the men had collected and brought to the park.

“I have seen an emergency light, a food processor, clothes. Stuff is hidden in various trees and in the sewers which are leaking foul smelling stuff. The litter is unbelievable, they make fires and just rob the neighbourhood of their community park. This is a growing problem. The SAPS say it’s up to Metro, the Metro Police don’t come when I call. Parks do nothing. No one gives a damn. Slowly our communities are eroding away. It’s time for action,” he said.

Following complaints to Metro Police last week, the man said he had observed officers arrive at Meyrick Bennet Park one morning and did a ‘poor’ job of looking for vagrants. He said he had seen how the car guard in the street had warned the men who fled with their big bags of goods down the side of the park and out on the Cato Road entrance. However, he said Metro Police officers had arrived again on Sunday and this time were more thorough.

“It’s truly amazing, I’m glad the police have taken action. I heard one man was arrested for being in possession of dagga, goods were confiscated and the men were chased away. This does, however, need to be sustained,” he said.

Eric Cotton of the Glenwood/Glenmore Community Watch (GCW) said he had received a message from Metro Police confirming they had been in Meyrick Bennett Park on Sunday morning and informing him that DSW staff were at the park removing all the vagrants’ mess and bedding.

He said GCW had been monitoring the park and did another walk through late Saturday night. There were only three vagrants there, but they had moved these men on.

“GCW has been doing walkthroughs in Bulwer Park and the park at the corner of Umbilo and McDonald which apparently was very bad. It has also been cleaned up and there are not as many vagrants. There were about 10 on Saturday night where there had been about 30 or 40 previously, but again they were encouraged to move along,” he said.

Heather Rorick of the Bulwer Community Safety Forum said forum members were also out on patrol on Saturday night and had chased many vagrants and prostitutes who had congregated in various parts of Glenwood.

“We also stopped an attempted mugging and stabbing in Baxter Park. The Parks Department is doing their best to help clean up the parks, but at the moment staff and funds are limited and they have their hands full with the huge problem of vagrants in all the parks – and it is not only Umbilo and Glenwood – it is all of Durban,” she said.

Berea resident, Iain Kerr added another park to the growing list of decaying open spaces this week when he published on Facebook photographs he had taken at the weekend of the open space at the bottom of Berea Road. The photographs clearly show a large gathering of people and he called it the “new whoonga park”.

GCW’s Eric Cotton said he would organise for the relevant authorities to sort out the vagrant problems in the parks that had been reported to him and said local community watches would also do their bit.

“We encourage residents to join the community watches in their area so they can also help to keep their areas safe and free from vagrants. It’s up to each of us to contribute in our own small way. The GCW is happy to work with authorities and residents to eradicate the criminal element and improve the conditions in the parks,” he said.

Cotton said a Glenwood Partnership had been formed on 1 April, which was made up of community watches, concerned residents and councillor, Nicole Graham. He said it was tasked to deal with these types of issues. “There will be an open meeting on 13 May where authorities and committee members will give feedback to the public on what progress has been made,” he said.

eThekwini’s Parks and Recreation Department spokesman, Jabulani Mdiniso said the problem was a social one and the city’s law enforcement were doing their best to move the vagrants.

No comment was received from the eThekwini Municipality’s communication department by the time of going to print.