Local recreational park in ‘deteriorating’ state

The Verwoerdpark Recreational Park is located off Jim Fouche and is linked by Mutual, Roberson and Carolina streets.

It is in a quiet suburb where many families bring their children to come and enjoy a day out.

During the school holidays, there was a hive of activity, where children either walked or rode their bicycles to come and have fun.

But there is a very unfortunate side to this park too. It has been a drug hub for while now and is becoming significantly worse.

What we cannot understand is that there are youngsters old enough to drive a car, who can spend hours on end at this park, smoking their marijuana and/or drinking alcohol. It is not uncommon to have up to 15 kids at a time, not always together, but within their circles to openly drink and smoke their stuff.

We know that this is marijuana because we see the little packets that they buy their marijuana in, lying on the ground or in the dustbins. Also, the empty alcohol bottles are again either left on the ground or if they are in the mood, will be kind enough to throw these bottles in the dustbin.

Another big concern is, how many of the glass bottles get smashed against the dustbins or the tables and chairs? There is glass everywhere and as we mentioned, there are kids that come to play here. One of these days, some little kid is going to sustain a nasty cut.

The trees that were planted when the park had a revamp were young trees with support. These supports are pulled out and left lying on the ground. These trees did not survive.

Now people, all municipal upgrades or revamps come from taxpayers, it was not donated.

Do you know what your kids are getting up to? Are you aware of how serious a drug problem we have in Alberton?

Underage drinking is just as serious, where are these kids getting the money for this?

Why are kids not respecting an area meant for all to enjoy and vandalism is, okay?

Concerned resident