Pretoria - Visiting hours could be introduced at the crime-ridden Fort Klapperkop Nature Reserve after a record 30 muggings in 13 days.
Fort Klapperkop is no stranger to criminal activity. Security upgrades in the past, including boom gates and electric fences, have not helped the historic site - it is plagued by muggings and robberies along its nature trials.
Local councillor Shaun Wilkinson said the SAPS and Metro Police did routine patrols in the area with private security firms. However, this was not nearly enough to reduce the number of attacks.
“We need to introduce opening and closing hours to the historic nature reserve. This is the only way we can drive down the crime rate. Introducing visiting hours will maybe help regulate and manage the number of visitors,” he said.
Wilkinson said they had tried everything to curb the crime rate in and around the nature reserve. Even raids were conducted during which multiple weapons, including knives, “pangas” and toy guns, were seized.
“We shouldn’t wait for someone to die before implementing the visiting hours procedure,” he stressed.
A request to close the gates at night had been received and the City’s nature conservation department was involved, he said.
Hi-Risk Unit security company’s Gareth Pahl reiterated the need for visiting hours, emphasising that most muggings took place very early in the morning or very late at night. Hi-Risk provides a security service at the nature reserve.
He proposed that the nature reserve open at 8am and close at 6pm, during which time there would be a heavy police and security presence. “It will be too bad that people won’t be able to catch Pretoria’s skyline late at night from the look-out points. But no skyline is worth someone’s life,” he said.
Pahl said the bulk of people who were being mugged in the area were not from Pretoria and thus oblivious to the safety issue.
Chairperson of the Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve, Robrecht Tryhou, expressed outrage at the latest attacks. It was time that Klapperkop followed the trends of all the other nature reserves, he said.
“They have tried everything in the past. It’s time to implement visiting hours,” Tryhou said.
He echoed Pahl’s sentiments that the reserve should open in the early morning and close in the late evening, with access control during the day.
Pahl took the Pretoria News on a tour to illustrate the criminals’ modus operandi inside the nature reserve. He pointed out their favourite hot spots and viewpoints. He said visitors, mainly tourists, enjoyed the highest peaks from where they could view the amazing scenery of Pretoria and hiking trails.
The criminals waited near these viewpoints in the thick bush and pounced on tourists and stripped them of their belongings.
After snatching the belongings, the criminals disappeared into the bushes and down any of the many pathways leading to the nearby residential areas, or to Fountains Circle.
At one of the more famous viewpoints, there were beer bottles, cigarette packs and condom packets.
Pahl said people were there late at night to enjoy themselves, but almost always the enjoyment turned into misery.
“Sometimes you see young couples coming to the nature reserve in the wee hours of the morning after clubbing, trying to watch the moon and stars together - but their romance is short-lived,” he said.
More recently five young people aged between 19 and 20 were ambushed and attacked. The group had stopped at a lookout point when six men jumped out of the bushes armed with pistols and Tasers.
The men intimidated the group and demanded their valuables. They were robbed of all their possessions, including phones, purses, hats, jackets and shoes.
One man was assaulted with a Taser until he passed out. Another had a gun held to his head. One woman was pulled out of the vehicle and kicked by one of the thugs during the mugging.
The group was allegedly turned away at a police stations where they had gone to report the crime. Police spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach said an internal investigation into why the complainants had been sent away was under way.
“Police officers are not allowed to turn away complainants.
“Victims may open cases at any police station. It will be transferred to the relevant police station.”