Reitumetse Mahope
Free Wi-Fi has brought drugs and noise for a Pretoria North couple and a primary school.
They exist near a Tshwane Wi-Fi hotspot in the north, which is a drawcard for scores of young people.
“They come and use drugs here, smoking dagga and nyaope,” said Paul Kortman and his wife.
He claimed to have also seen people making drug deliveries.
“There is no safety and we’ve called the police.”
The couple claimed the police only asked the drug users to quieten down.
Kortman said one of his neighbours took matters into his own hands and shot at the drug users with his paintball gun .
Kortman said the hotspot did not seem to serve pupils in Laerskool Rachel De Beer very well.
Ronel Krynauw, a teacher from the school, said the Wi-Fi hotspot was of no use to the school.
“It is out of our range, the only way you can have access to it is if you sit on the corner of Wonderboom and Deetleff streets.
Krynauw complained the people using the spot tended to leave a mess behind.
“Alcohol bottles lying around, they leave the area messy and we have to clean up after them.”
Mayoral spokesperson Blessing Manale said the metro had received complaints of this nature in the past.
“The City is also looking into improving the Wi-Fi hotspot sites in open public areas by including better lighting, CCTV camera feeds, installation of street furniture, deployment of metro police and increased foot patrols at the sites,” he said.
“Until the above is achieved, we urge all Wi-Fi hotspot users to take precautions, walk in groups and not use the service until late, and customise the “Tobetsa” crime reporting app to enable them to report such with ease and quicker.”
He said the executive mayor announced during his state-of-the-capital address that by the end of 2016, every citizen of Tshwane would be within a walking distance of free Wi-Fi hotspot areas.
“The City’s vision is to eventually provide free Wi-Fi connectivity in every street, at every corner and to every household in the capital city. We are well on our way towards tangibly realizing this vision” Manale said.
Pretoria North police could not be reached for comment by the time of transmitting this report.
The Tshwane Wi-Fi hotspot, a free Wi-Fi project for residents and students in Pretoria, is placed in public areas. It has more than a million users in Pretoria.
Also read:
Tshwane free Wi-Fi continues to grow
Free Wi-Fi popular across townships
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
