Writing is on the wall for vandals
The Steiltes Cross had been a long-standing topic of contention with residents as the area was strewn with masses of litter and foul language was written in graffiti across the reservoir walls.
Three young vandals were caught on camera defacing the Steiltes reservoir recently, just a few weeks after the area was repainted by the community and local cartoonist, Wouter de Witt.
On December 4 last year several community members were gathered by Nanette van der Westhuizen to clean up the area.
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Joined by We Care 4 Nelspruit’s TJ Maré, the reservoir was completely repainted, cleared of litter and CCTV cameras were installed so that anyone committing any sort of criminal activity would be caught.
Just under a month after the reservoir was painted, CCTV footage caught a few people spray-painting the walls. A few weeks later, the reservoir was again repainted and a beautiful mural of the city’s skyline was done on the wall by De Witt, also known as Ghost.
Maré had said that if the reservoir was vandalised again, he would name and shame the culprits on social media, which is exactly what he did on March 4. Mare posted on his Facebook page that he was able to identify three people who had spray-painted the reservoir with “foul language” a few days earlier.
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“We are very thankful to report that the graffiti has been cleaned up, dankie Ghost and Alicia (Whitting),” said his post.
He said the culprits had already apologised and agreed to pay the cost of repairs and complete three Saturdays’ of community service. Maré named the three people on his Facebook page and they are between the ages of 17 and 22.
He added that the name and shame procedure would continue as long as they continued to experience criminal behaviour.
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