Residents step in after years of neglect of property

GEORGE NEWS - Fed up with an unresolved security situation resulting from years of alleged inaction from the authorities, a group of residents of the Heatherlands, Glenbarrie and Camphersdrift Neighbourhood Watch took the matter of the old magistrate's house in Davidson Road into their own hands.

With donations and the sponsorship of a digger-loader machine from these same residents, they managed to clear the large areas that had been overgrown by thick bushes. They also wheeled away seven tip-trucks of rubbish. The whole operation cost them about R35 000, plus the physical efforts of volunteer residents.

This site, as well as various undeveloped adjacent properties westwards towards Langenhoven Road, has become home to a growing number of illegal informal dwellers over the years. According to Peter King, a retiree from the area, the neighbourhood watch has been linking increasing criminal activities, such as break-ins and theft, to the people living here. He said he had received serious threats from some men on the property on two occasions during the clean-up.

King said at one point, about eight different structures were housing some 35 people. The neighbourhood watch has on numerous occasions given chase after people who had broken in and escaped into the bush, where it was impossible to catch them.

"We were not evicting or moving anyone - we just cleared the bush to make it difficult for people to live there and to expose the ground so that residents can see what is going on there."

On refuse collection day, some of the dwellers carry rubbish bags into the bushes and rummage through them, leaving whatever they do not want behind.

A sad sight.

The plot on which the house stands belongs to the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), under whose watch the historic magistrate's house has turned into a ruin after years of neglect and vandalism.

Community efforts to get the authorities to do something about this situation have been in vain. At one stage, there was talk of the property possibly being transferred to the Western Cape Government for future expansion of the George Hospital, but this never realised.

In the background, the George Hospital lies on the opposite side of the Camphersdrift River. Thick bushes were cleared and several truckloads of rubbish were wheeled away.

The ruin is ironically now being guarded by a private security company at taxpayers' expense. "They do nothing to stop people coming through there or to check on who is staying in the second structure behind the house.

"I have been unable to get a list of who they are or who is legally entitled to stay there, but there are children of probably four, five years old running around there, and there are some puppies. Neither the kids nor the dogs look particularly neglected, but it is absolutely filthy.