Concern over number of homeless

GEORGE NEWS - George South neighbourhood watch (NHW) chairman Kobus van Biljon has expressed concern over the increasing number of homeless people in George, a matter on which George Herald has reported countless times.

"Residents and business owners in our area are unhappy when these people sleep, litter and mess at their front door, and they expect the neighbourhood watch to remove them, but where do we take them? Some also break in and steal.

"There is an open piece of ground near the bus depot in the town centre where they can sleep, but when it rains there is no shelter. They have nowhere to go," says Van Biljon.

He has appealed for cooperation from the public, authorities and police to try to find a workable solution.

Anita Otto complains about vagrants sleeping on the south-eastern side of the George Police Station where they leave behind a mess that greets surrounding residents in the mornings.

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The vagrants use the area around a transformer near the entrance of a block of flats as a toilet and to dump trash, which attracts flies.

"We have called the police, land invasion, law enforcement, neighbourhood watches and municipality on numerous occasions, day and night. The vagrants just laugh at them and come back two hours later."

Sleeping on the pavement against the police station building.

Otto said female residents of the Annandale and Greeff flats are also having to endure verbal abuse from the vagrants.

"This is our only entrance and exit and we have to pass by the pavement. There is also drug abuse and the glass shards they leave behind are dangerous. The situation is becoming unbearable."

Southern Cape police spokesperson Sgt Chris Spies said the George police remains committed to working with local government and any other stakeholders to deal with the matters raised by Van Biljon, and have them resolved amicably.

"We value the contribution made by NHW volunteers and the role they play in crime-fighting efforts. However, their deployment and patrols should be done in accordance with relevant prescripts, in conjunction with the police station in the immediate precinct."

Spies said the movement or relocation of people from one point to another does not fall within the ambit of any neighbourhood watch structure.

"Challenges experienced during patrols should rather be directed via the community police forums and/or the designated sector manager (sector crime forum) to the relevant structures."

Homeless people next to the George Police Station.