Cape Town - The neighbourhood watch in Woodstock has expressed frustration over Prasa’s derelict building on Railway Street, which it says has been a hive of illegal activities for the past 10 years.
U Watch Woodstock NHW said 90% of criminal activities in the area have connections to this area, where numerous arrests of people dealing in drugs and cable theft have been made.
On March 4, the Woodstock police raided the building and 144 units of heroin as well as bags of metal were uncovered along with cash.
Earlier this year a man was arrested with electronic scales, copper cables and R1 300 in cash.
The NHW said that until Metrorail regained control of its assets or disposed of them for private use, the area would be a centre for metal theft and drug dealing.
The NHW secretary Rob Marshall said residents of Woodstock had been subjected to cable and metal theft, a proliferation of drugs as well as shootings and gang activity originating from the area.
Marshall said this building and the area around it had been problematic since 2013 and that since then Prasa representatives said they were working towards a solution. However, to date, Marshall said they were yet to see firm commitments or timelines.
“We believe we are owed, at the very least, a firm timeline of what Prasa is going to do. The whole area was offered up for lease, but there has been no feedback on whether this was successful or not.
If Prasa cannot find a new owner or tenant for the area who will look after it, it must secure its assets. We know and understand that Prasa has financial difficulties, but this problem has been going on for over a decade,” he said.
Marshall said with load shedding they had seen cable theft increase exponentially.
“Metal thieves in particular know they can process their stolen items there, which draws more criminal activity into our area. This morning (yesterday), more houses reported their cables being stolen.
This comes at great expense to the City, pushing up costs for residents in rates and taxes at a time when the cost of living is high enough. It’s unfair for residents to live in fear for over a decade of criminal activity which is preventable,” he said.
With the right design, Marshal said the area could be transformed into a vibrant extension of Woodstock and Salt River.
Ward councillor Ian McMahon said that in the past year, the City’s fire services had extinguished fires inside that building four times.
McMahon said the building must have integrity issues as it had no roof and that it was structurally unsafe. He said the Woodstock police had conducted many operations at that particular building with arrests made.
Prasa spokesperson Zinobulali Mihi said the area had been part of the Western Cape region’s strategic property development drive under its property division, Prasa Cres, and had been advertised through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process.
Mihi said, to date, evaluations had been finalised and Prasa was in the process of awarding a contract with the estimated time of award in three months. The objective of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to have the area developed would include the demolition of these buildings, Mihi said.
“Our Asset Protection Services will give this matter their urgent and priority attention in ensuring that the area is cleared of vagrants and monitored on a regular and daily basis. Our facilities department has been requested to look into cleaning the subject area,” she said.