I AM writing to you regarding the terrible crime that is happening in Atholl Heights, Westville North.
Our community sits on the left side of the M19, Reservoir side and we fall under Westville.
We used to live in a quiet peaceful neighbourhood just like the rest of Westville.
Then about two years ago, crime spiked.
The ADT guard was murdered in 2016 and we had house robberies on a daily basis.
I had many meetings with the residents and we formed a street group.
We then got permission from the deputy mayor and we fenced off our area. This brought the crime all the way down.
Now we are getting criminals breaking into houses along the M19.
This we have no control over as we can’t see what’s going on the bush between the houses and the M19.
I have written to the eThekwini Municipality and to the KZN roads department but they do not respond to my email.
I have also sent Deputy Mayor, Fawzia Peer, a WhatsApp message and she has not responded to me.
She met with us six weeks ago and promised us the dog unit would be used to patrol our area and it has not happened.
Recently she was in the newspaper promising the remote camera unit would returned and it has not happened.
We, as the residents living in Kirriemuir Drive, Luton Place, Kirkmichael Road, Dunoon Place, Strathay Road and Moulin Road, have now got together and have started clearing the bush ourselves.
We expect the task to take us four months. We have raised the funds ourselves by each donating a small bit each month.
We have bought our own brush cutters and chainsaws to do the job.
Once completed we will be putting up flood lights and CCTV cameras and will monitor the perimeter fence ourselves. I am sure other communities can learn from what we are doing.
Andrew Dobie
(vice chairman of
Atholl Heights NHW)
Westville
