New razor wire will be fixed to a boundary wall between the M3 and a Kirstenhof greenbelt ahead of the anticipated festive-season crime spike thanks to donations from the community and a security firm.
The existing razor and barbed wire on the wall is broken and sagging, which, along with overhanging tree branches, has long made it a weak point that opportunistic criminals exploited to slip in and out of Kirstenhof, according to Kirstenhof Crime Watch chairman Kyle Clark.
Traditionally the watch would rely on security cameras to secure the perimeter, but increasing bouts of load shedding had left the community vulnerable, he said.
“The greenbelt it is a decent size. Offenders end up either hiding in the greenbelt, lying low until we call off the search or they just jump over the wall back onto the M3 and cross the road and they are gone. So it has become a big big problem with offenders gaining access on that side,” Mr Clark said.
“They gain access to quite a large amount of the Kirstenhof area. The greenbelt stretches all the way down. From the boundary wall, if you keep walking straight, crossing over Oranje Road, you reach another section of the greenbelt, then it goes all the way to Valentino Drive, which is almost on Main Road, so it is a long stretch from the M3.”
Before the security cameras were installed over three years ago, the wire on the wall had gotten quite old and criminals had eventually pushed it aside and broken it off, Mr Clark said.
“And then we had quite a bit of trees that were overhanging that the guys were climbing through. We had that cut away so it is just the razor wire that was needed to give it that extra bit of security.”
Watch fund-raising efforts brought in R6000 from residents, but that was far short of the R13 000 needed to replace the wire, and the watch had hoped to get the job done before the contractor closed for December.
A security company had then stepped in and offered to cover the balance, said Mr Clark.
The firm’s CEO, Richard Frost, said it had made sense for them to contribute to the project as they were one of the main security companies in the area.
Mr Clark said the razor wire would be installed on Monday December 19 and cover more than 100 metres of the boundary wall.
“It doesn’t matter what you put up there, you can put up barbed wire, electric fencing, you can raise the wall, but if anyone wants to get in, they will get in. But this is definitely something to make them think twice.”
