Residents of Parow North are breathing a sigh of relief, albeit temporarily, following the removal of vagrants from the fringes of the Jan Burger Sport Complex near McIntyre Road. The vagrants were removed from the area by the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Thursday last week.

TygerBurger had received numerous complaints regarding the group over the years, as well as from the ward councillor.

The group have been removed before, but always returns, says Ashley Marais, chair of the Parow North Ratepayers Association.

Marais said the area behind the track has always been a problem with displaced people setting up camp. He said over the years they have been removed, only to return again. He described it as being an ongoing battle, and not a “once-off thing”.

He said law enforcement tries to address it. “The more they clear up, the more they are coming back.”

Video footage of the latest removal were shared online last week by a resident who thanked the City’s officials for finally cleaning up the area. He said there were about 25 vagrants at the spot on the day and that some were found to be in possession of drugs.

The resident told the newspaper that the issue is a growing problem as these vagrants are not old, vulnerable people, but young men between 18 and 40 years. “They arrested the one guy yesterday for dealing drugs, as they found three bags of tik on him,” he said.

Marais said the issue has been a battle for years now.

He said law enforcement visits the area once a week and cleans up the place, but emphasised that the vagrants return again.

Roger Cannon, ward councillor, said in a previous interview that the City’s law enforcement does visit the site on a weekly basis, as well as the neighbouring area of the De Grendel Train Station, where a similar problem has been reported over the years.

“We have to find a permanent solution for this somehow,” said Marais.

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