Crime up in Kenwyn, Rondebosch East

Armed robberies at homes and businesses, thefts, and drug possession are among the 510 crimes reported for the Kenwyn and Rondebosch East area from the beginning of August last year to the end of February..

This is according to Lansdowne police chief Colonel Michael van der Bergh. He told a public meeting at the Range Road hall in Kenwyn, last week, that the area had seen an increase in crime during the mornings, and Garnet, Pine Hurst, Range and Waterloo roads are hot spots.

“There are no specific days that stand out in terms of an increase or decrease in crime. But we found that there is a spike in collective (all) crimes taking place from 6am to noon with a dip from 12pm to 6am,” he said.

The public needed to report all cases to give the police an accurate picture of crime trends, he said.

He admitted that the precinct did not have enough officers and thanked neighbourhood watches and community police forums for their support.

“We understand that these groups can only act within certain frames but are thankful for the role they play and for being the eyes and ears.”

City metal theft unit senior inspector Daryl Domeyer asked the public to be their “eyes and ears” and report scrap metal businesses or recyclers who they suspected were buying or selling stolen goods, as the City paid rewards of up to R20 000 for information that led to arrests.

“We are only 30 staff members servicing the entire city - that is 2 437km². This is a mammoth task, and without the intervention of the community, we would not be able to do as much as we do.

“If you phone in to say someone is stealing a water meter, and we apprehend the person with the items, we will submit a rewards document on behalf of the person. You don’t have to go to court or provide a statement, and your money will be paid via a cardless transaction.”

Sean Newman, an inspector with the City’s problem building unit, said once a problem building had been identified, they would either issue a seven-day notice to the owner to rectify whatever they had noted and issue a compliance certificate or they would issue a notice of intention (to declare a problem building), giving the owner 21 days to deal with issues.

“If the owner does not comply with the notice of intention, an extra R5 000 is added to their bills quarterly. After the 21 days, a notice of contravention is issued, and they have seven days to appeal this,” he said.

Mr Newman said the process of identifying and having a building declared as problem building could take up to three to four months.

Niyaaz Khan, from the Kenwyn Ratepayers’ Association, said the association’s pre-Covid bike patrols had helped to reduce the number of bin scratchers in the area, but the patrols had been less frequent in the wake of the pandemic and now the bin scratchers had started to return.

“We have spoken about increasing our bike patrols again and would like residents to donate at least R40 to assist with this,” he said.

• There has been an increase in the theft of Volkswagen Polos in the Rondebosch area with five of them taken in the last month, warn police.

“The thefts have occurred in various locations, such as on-road parking, driveways, UCT parking areas, and complexes,” said Rondebosch police spokesperson Warrant Officer Lyndon Sisam, adding that the thefts had happened during both the day and night.

Two white Polos were stolen on Saturday February 17, one at Rhodes Memorial and another at UCT’s south-end parking lot. Another Polo, a silver one, was taken from Rhodes Memorial on Monday February 19, followed by a blue one in Duke Road on Saturday February 24, and, on Saturday February 26, a white Polo was taken from College Road.

“We are calling on the community to take preventive measures to secure these types of vehicles, such as ensuring that your alarm works, installing a tracker system, even making use of a steering wheel brake lock or installing an immobiliser/ kill switch and parking the car behind lock gates or in a garage,” Warrant Officer Sisam said.

You can report suspicious activity to the Rondebosch police at 021 685 6600 or the SAPS emergency number at 10111.