Vagrants who had set up camp near a bridge in Parow were removed from the site on Friday last week following numerous complaints from the public.
The site is located along a boundary wall in Jan van Riebeeck Drive, Parow, and has been there for some time. It is also clearly visible from satellite images on Google Maps.
According to the Ward 26 councillor, Franchesca Walker, the site is also the tragic scene of a shooting on Tuesday 21 March (Human Rights Day).
“Four people were shot and one of them died. This incident happened at this particular site. It is not the first murder that has occurred there,” Walker says.
Walker says rate-paying residents have logged several complaints of them being kept awake, people fighting and shots being fired at the site, defecation and the smell of urine. “It is just very bad for our residents. This is the clean-up after many crimes have been committed there,” Walker says.
She says the neighbourhood watches will also welcome the intervention as they have daily robberies taking place on the bridge of people going back and forth to work.
“We had to intervene with regards to this particular site.”
NHW welcome intervention
Peter Cloete, chair of the Parow Crime Fighters Neighbourhood Watch (Pacrif), told TygerBurger the removal is good news.
“This has been an eye-sore since the Covid-19 pandemic and has added to the crime in Parow,” says Cloete.
The Parow police, law enforcement, Community in Blue initiative and the City of Cape Town’s waste removal were involved in the clean-up operation. Cloete says Pacrif and the Parow West Neighbourhood Watch, as well as a local family store sponsored water to those involved in the operation.
“Together we can make a positive difference in Parow,” he says.
CPF praises role-players involved
Shakir Smith, chair of the Parow Community Policing Forum (CPF), says the clean-up has been coming for a while now.
“The people in Parow said enough is enough. Several C3 notifications have been logged a while ago to have the vagrants removed after people complained about the robberies taking place near to the area,” Smith says.
He also confirmed that a murder occurred there recently.
“This has been an issue, but we are just glad that law enforcement are able to do this now. There has been a drive to clean up Parow for a while now because the residents are just fed-up,” he says adding that some areas are worse than others. I want to say thank you to Pacrif and their chair, as well as the CPF’s vice-chair. Everyone there had a role to play, especially the police and law enforcement. They did a great job,” say Smith who has been serving as CPF-chair since August last year.
Walker says as the City they do take care of the homeless.
“Those in need and who are on the street are being taken care of. We have City facilities, one in the proximity of where they had set up camp, the Elim Night Shelter. This is supported by the City. We would not want anyone to sleep on the street,” Walker says.
Capt Kevin Williams, Parow police spokesperson, says he will provide more details on the shooting and the murder. TygerBurger is still waiting on comment
