NEWS
Tuesday 15 March 2011
People’s Post Mitchell's Plain Page 3
Residents ‘take back’ Wolfgat Reserve Operations conducted at Nature Reserve bear fruit MELISSA PAPIER
A LOCAL civic organisation, together with the area’s crime watch, held a crime blitz at the Wolfgat Nature Reserve on Saturday 5 March. They say the reserve has become a haven for criminals recently. Members of the Mitchell’s Village Civic Association, in partnership with Wolfgat Nature Reserve, patrolled in the area of the Tafelsig and Lost City communities bordering the reserve, with the assistance of the Mitchell’s Village Neighbourhood Watch team. Chairperson of the Mitchell’s Village Civic Association, Ricardo Norton, said the community has a beautiful asset “which we cannot enjoy due to the high crime rate”. Norton said: “We decided to take back our nature reserve from the criminals that give the nature reserve a negative image. “We face many challenges from the criminal elements that use the nature reserve as a hiding place to hide stolen goods, and where drug addicts also smoke their drugs, which poses a fire threat to our beautiful nature reserve.” The group patrolled from Huguenot Primary School along the
border of the reserve to Swartklip Road. The operation was conducted under the guidance of Jerome September, an Environmental Education officer and Selwyn Kondowe, a community partner who has experience in law enforcement. The group discovered a stolen car and came across a few illegal structures. It also discovered some stolen council water meters at the nature reserve. “Evidence of drug usage is also evident all over the reserve. Illegal dumping is a huge problem and we issued quite a few warnings to some of the offenders. “It is important that the greater Mitchell’s Plain businesses and communities support us in beautifying our precious nature reserve. “Our bio-diversity is under threat and it is everybody’s responsibility to take ownership and responsibility to save our biodiversity. “We should act now or our biodiversity will be lost forever,” Norton said. September highlighted the importance of forming partnerships with the communities bordering the nature reserve. “These types of ventures are bearing fruit because Nature Conservation does not have the
manpower to patrol the reserve on a regular basis. “The community is starting to see the value of Wolfgat Nature Reserve, and they are taking ownership of the area bordering the nature reserve,” he said. September added that it was sad to see that the communities living on the edge of the reserve cannot enjoy the benefits and services that it provides. “Affluent areas make use of public spaces, but within poorer communities some elements within the community use the reserve in illegal ways. “If the bordering residents found value within the nature reserve, then surely benefits can be obtained such as increased property values.” Norton said the partners involved in the operation were serious in their quest to make the reserve a safe place for the community to enjoy their precious resource, and “operations will be taking place on a regular basis”. He asked that residents and local business support the association in their quest to make the Wolfgat Nature Reserve a safe place to allow the surrounding community to benefit from ventures such as eco-tourism. Anyone wanting to assist in any way can call Norton on 073 107 6301 or September on (021) 392-5135 or 083 749 1073.
WHAT A DUMP: People were found living in the bushes of the Wolfgat Nature Reserve, which was found to be filthy, with lots of dirt and rubble being dumped in the area. Photo: Supplied
OPERATIONS: Residents conducting an investigation into activities at the nature reserve. Photo: Supplied
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