Tafelsig crime-fighters say they have been let down by the City of Cape Town after a camera surveillance room was closed.
Kwaad patrollers of the Tafelsig Neighbourhood Watch, which managed the One Stop Crime Shop as volunteers for many years, have claimed that the City obtained a High Court order against them while they could not afford lawyers to defend themselves.
Charmaine Mahorta, who has helped manage the control room for eight years, said tempers flared when police and Law Enforcement officers arrived to toss them from the property known as The Hives on AZ Berman Drive.
“It was set up by JP Smith and the old ward councillor, Sheval Arendse, and they hosted a handover and posed for pictures in newspapers,” she explains.
“All these years we ran it and then they just suddenly served us with papers to vacate.
“They never hosted any meeting explaining why it needs to be moved.
“Even worse, they took us as volunteers to the high court to fight an eviction. “They have let the community of Tafelsig down,” she adds.
City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo, while not elaborating on the eviction, explained that the closure was a “last resort”.
“The eviction process was a last resort following several direct engagements with the user to vacate the premises.
“The user was offered an opportunity to integrate their services with the neighbourhood watch but refused, and did not take up that offer.”
He also added that an alternative venue for the CCTV camera room at the New Tafelsig Hall has been arranged: “All CCTV equipment are functioning/operational at the new venue and monitored by the neighbourhood watch."
dailyvoice@inl.co.za