Thousands of rands worth of damage has been done to fibre-optic cables after vagrants started a huge fire on Sunday evening under the Market Street bridge in Paarl.
This bridge, in central Paarl and across the picturesque Berg River, has been a bone of contention for many years, with a squatter camp having developed beneath it.
More than 400 people live here and the area is a wasteland of filth.
The municipality’s law enforcement division, with the help of the police, every now and then remove the tatty belongings of vagrants and clean the area, but once night sets in they move in again.
The squatter camp is a known lawless nest where stolen goods and drugs change hands and murders and rapes also take place.
A Drakenstein Municipality spokesperson admitted the problem continues, as the vagrants just move back after they have been removed.
To date no plans were revealed for a more long-term solution of ridding the area of vagrants.
