Municipality response to out cry

BARBERTON – Finally Umjindi Local Municipality(ULM) has responded to the outcry of community members in different sections regarding the overgrown grass that was never cut and poses danger to the residents.
Mpumalanga News visited some of the areas that were giving residents sleepless nights and discovered that the overgrown grass has been cut.

The move by the municipality comes after some residents witnessed numerous incidents of crime activities as the overgrown grass turned out to be a hiding place for criminals and rapists.
The situation was affecting the community to an extent that some domestic workers are forced to go to work very late as the didn’t want to be rape victims as Ms Elsie Makhathini said:

“I leave for work around 05.30, but I am always late now because I have to delay until there are many people rushing to work, too. I don’t want to be a victim of rape.”
Some of the people who was attacked by thugs in the overgrown grass is a learner from Kamhola secondary school.

She was almost raped after she was attacked by two unknown man who were allegedly hiding in the overgrown grass and she was rescued by Lomati staff that were passing by after they heard her screaming.
Some of the crime activities that occurred in the overgrown grass were also confirmed by the local police as the spokesperson Const Tutu Nkosi was quoted saying:

“Some of the rape incidents occurred in overgrown grass or bushes because the criminals were taking an advantage that no one would see them.

We also have our own project called cutting bush campaign where we work together will different stakeholders, cleaning our bushes,”she explained.