Cape Town - A four-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being hit by a car at Scottsdene, near Kraaifontein, as law enforcement moved in to close down the pitch locals use for spinning.
Traffic Services' Maxine Jordaan confirmed the boy was taken to hospital but could not say how serious his injuries were. Jordaan also said one man was arrested for riotous behaviour.
Earlier on Sunday law enforcement officials, together with police, were at Scottsdene to end the illegal spinning of cars by the locals. About 15 cars were stopped and checked by the officials for illegal modifications and were declared unroadworthy for various reasons.
Shelton Jacobs said he usually came to watch cars spinning on Sundays and didn't expect his car, a VW Fox, to be declared suspended.
“This is where I come to relax on Sundays and I don't participate,” he said. “I know the traffic police are doing their job but for my car to be suspended from the road... I don’t know how I’m going to get around.”
ANGRY CROWD
Marius Swartz, of Durbanville, also had his early model BMW impounded.
“I heard about what happens here from a friend of mine and I came to check it out. But I got my car suspended from the road and they took my disc. We didn’t even get a warning about traffic police coming.”
The number of residents watching from across the streets grew and sounds of revs could be heard from inside the area.
The angry crowd kept on shouting at the law enforcement officials.
Resident Joey Douglas said they were just having fun by doing what they do and the money spent on closing down the pitch could have been used to fight gangsterism.
“We come here to relax this is our life, its our culture, Douglas said. “I don’t see why money should be spent on closing us down when there are gangs killing each other.”
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said there had been a lot of complaints from residents of Scottsdene which resulted in the operation to close down the pitch.
Cape Argus