Children can’t play in parks anymore

POLOKWANE – A family from the city recently experienced a very unpleasant incident when two men attacked two young boys for playing on the playground in the public park in Devenish Street.

Thabo Molopelo told Review he took his two young sons to the park to play on the playground.

They had a great time playing on the slide, but when they wanted to play on the roundabout, the boys were attacked and chased away by two men who said they wanted to sleep on the roundabout.

Molopelo said he immediately stepped in and defended his sons, saying that the playground was there for children to play at. This escalated into a fight with the two men who would not back down.

The Molopelo family had to leave the playground.

“I cannot believe that my children had to fight off two men just to play on a structure that was put there for them to play on,” Molopelo said.

“What would have happened if I was not there to defend my children? Would those men have hurt them?”

Review spoke to Matshidiso Mothapo, Polokwane municipal spokesperson, and he said the municipality created and maintained all public parks in the city. “These parks are meant as a play area for children to keep them off the streets,” he said.

He said it was unlawful for people to use these spaces for sleeping.

Unfortunately most resident that Review spoke to said the parks were far from the safe playgrounds that the municipality thought they were.

They said these parks had become a place to sleep for homeless people and also served as lookout points for criminals observing possible targets.

The community policing forum (CPF) for sector one and three, also known as Northern Upper Town (NUT), said they target parks to ensure unwanted elements were removed from these public spaces.

Peet Hartman, spokesperson for the CPF NUT, said they patrolled the area twice weekly and confronted and removed suspicious looking people from the parks where possible.

Mothapo said the municipality also made regular security visits to these parks with the help of the Polokwane police to ensure the parks are free from people who sleep there and all criminal elements.

He said residents could report problems relating to public parks to the municipality at (015) 290 2000/1/2.