Residents roll up their sleeves to help curb crime and dumping
The group of concerned citizens also hope to formalise as the Bluff Neighbourhood Watch in the near future.
THE lack of maintenance along St Patricks Road, on the Bluff, due to overwhelmed city services inspired residents to take ownership of their neighbourhood.
The group of residents said by being on the lookout for crime and cleaning up opens spaces where rubbish accumulates, they empower each other and hope the trend catches on in other areas.
The group’s Malcolm Nair said their aim was to complement the services that the police and the Durban Solid Waste provides and not to replace them but merely take added responsibility. On Sunday, 14 September, the group embarked on a clean-up.
“This initiative is to encourage people to take ownership of their area. We’re hoping that as we post this on social media, not for fame or glory but for more people to get involved, take responsibility, action and ownership of their street.”
“If every resident takes ownership of their own street, I think we can definitely keep our communities clean. DSW and other municipal departments will continue doing their jobs, we just come in to support them when there is an increase in these illegal activities,” he said.
The group of concerned citizens also hope to formalise as the Bluff Neighbourhood Watch in the near future. For almost a month, they have been doing patrols with two security companies, ET Security and Security Force, that were kind enough to sponsor them two-way radios, torches and reflective vests to help with patrols. Nair added that their role is about being visible rather than for apprehension.
“We got together as neighbours to decide what to do because the police have been extremely overwhelmed, security companies have also been patrolling but it seems as if the crime has increased at an alarming rate.”
“We decided that we’ll try to help out and start patrols in the early hours of the morning that we think these criminals are operating. We spread our intentions through word-of-mouth to our neighbours across the streets and various other streets and formed a concerned citizens WhatsApp group which focuses on crime and other service delivery issues,” he said.
He added that they noticed the issue of littering and dumping in the open spaces was growing rapidly and that the lockdown restrictions afforded them the time they needed to get things done.
“DSW is also overwhelmed and by the time they respond, the problem would have gotten worse. We drive and live in the area that is becoming an eyesore.”
“Since we’re on lockdown with restricted movement and in our homes most of the time, we chose to dedicate a day just to pick up the dirt on the side of the road and address that issue from a practical point of view and residents availed themselves. We’re stepping in a small way to tackle these service delivery issues,” he said.
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