A resident from Goodwood has expressed his concern about the vandalism happening on the Goodwood railway.
Abraham Smith, a resident from Protea Street, says these incidents occur on his doorstep.
“Every other night you can hear the thieves busy, they are even stealing the hooks that keep the railway together. What if a train derails?”
With the signal robots gone, the drivers have to communicate via radios, “but what if one gives misinterpretation? It would be chaotic,” Smith says.
Smith has been in talks with Metrorail about this ongoing vandalism, however, his requests were ignored.
Smith then started planting agave cactuses with a stretch of 450 meters over the span of 10 years.
He and a group of patrollers had a clean-up at Goodwood station, and they also donated some of the baby plants which developed quite nicely, Smith sats.
“Once they are in they are tough to take out. They take absolutely no water.”
To avoid intrusion
“We did it on a twofold basis, a recreative point of view to uplift the area, which was welcomed by all the residents, and then secondly to avoid intrusion, for perpetrators who constantly target that stretch of land, to commit a crime, whether it is to steal some metal, to stalk someone or to rob them.
“This was also done because the fence that is supposed to safeguard the area is of no use for its purpose,” Smith explains.
The fence near the bridge has also been lowered and allows for contact crimes such as robberies to take place.
Smith says they started this with three little plants and expanded it to a 450-meter stretch, and maintain it themselves.
“We have no support structure whatsoever, over the years we have also put in some tyres, which we painted. It is all community-driven.”
The responsibility of Prasa
According to JP Smith, Mayco member for safety and security, the safeguarding of rail infrastructure is the responsibility of the owner, which in this case is Prasa.
“The City of Cape Town conducts as many patrols as resources allow, but unfortunately, due to the demands on its services, it cannot have staff remain static at any one particular point for an indefinite amount of time.
“There have been several comments by various national government representatives in recent months, around potential restrictions on the scrap metal trade,” JP Smith says.
He adds that the City would welcome efforts to curb the rampant cable theft and vandalising of critical infrastructure, but these need to be expedited.
“However, it is imperative that such efforts be effective and that whatever regulations are imposed, or legislative changes made, be enforced with vigour by the criminal justice system.
In the interim, the City, through its enforcement agencies, and the Metal Theft Unit (MTU) in particular, continues to do everything possible within its mandate to address theft and vandalising of infrastructure.”
