Criminals and snakes take over vacant land?

The vacant land at the corner of Nagpur and Rangoon Road is filled with over 3m tall bamboo shoots and grass that evidently hasn’t been cut in over a year.

Residents in the area say the state of the vacant land causes endless problems for them. These problems include a rise in criminal elements and a large number of snakes in the area.

The thick bush and bamboo makes it very easy for criminals to hide and also easy for them to hide items they have stolen, say residents. They claim that numerous car batteries have been stolen out of vehicles in the area, which they attribute to the overgrown and unkempt land.

Residents fear there is one particularly large snake that lives in a hole somewhere on the bushy land. “Snakes will only move away from the area when the grass is cut and the bamboo is removed,” fumed one resident.

Fanie Cilliers from the Ladysmith Snake Removal team walked through the thick bush in search of snakes, but found none.

Fanie says he has responded to numerous calls in the same area in which people had snakes in their homes and yards.

Now residents want to know when the vacant land will be cleaned up so they can have peace of mind when they go to bed at night.