Gatesville residents are pleading with the Human Settlements department to erect gates amid the ongoing dumping of stolen vehicles at their flats.
Fowzia Veerasamy of the Gatesville Neighbourhood Watch says the flats, which are owned by the department, are the perfect hiding place for skelms.
Last Thursday, residents living in Amber Court reported an abandoned white Nissan Sentra to police.
“Each time they find vehicles in Phase 2 and 3 and we phone the police, they find the vehicles were stolen or hijacked,” she says.
“The discs and number plates of the Nissan were removed and nobody knew who left it there because the skelms come at night. The police came on Monday and removed it and confirmed it was stolen.”
In November, police removed a Ford in Diamond Court and a BMW found in Jasper Court.
Veerasamy says the lack of gates gives criminals easy access.
Department spokesperson, Muneera Allie, says they are not aware of the latest issues.
“The department has not received a recent request for gates. Approximately five years ago, the department liaised with the community to put up fencing,” says Allie.
“We offered to place vibracrete fencing with one gate at each block. “Residents, however, did not agree to one gate per block and requested multiple entrances with electric gates.
“The department advised the community that it could only afford to place the fence and one manual gate per block.
“The department proceeded to place the vibracrete fence and made allocations for multiple entrances per block. While the need for gates is acknowledged, the department was not able to place electric gates at all entrances at the time.”