Pretoria - The increase in crime over the years in Pretoria has seen a significant increase in the number of applications launched with the City of Tshwane to have certain areas proclaimed gated communities or access controlled areas.
The latest community to be granted the go-ahead to implement access control is a large portion of Waterkloof.
Non-profit company Safe Waterkloof has, however, been battling with the City since the end of 2018 for permission to have a significant portion of the area access controlled.
Safe Waterkloof turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in 2020 after it did not get any answers from the City regarding its application for access control to the area. The court, at the time, ordered the City to urgently consider their application, which has meanwhile been granted.
Access control areas are in the process of being demarcated.
The restriction of access relates to, among others, areas between Dely Road, Eridanus Street, Rigel Avenue and Justice Mahomed Street.
The area includes 1 460 residential erven, 17 business erven, various embassies, a primary school, and a golf course. Residents said crime had become out of hand in the area.
Safe Waterkloof has also done various traffic impact studies to show that there were various ways to ensure that the restriction to the area would not cause major traffic delays.
Some areas will have guarded boom gates opened during peak times, while other areas will only be opened to residents. Provision is also made for the free flow of pedestrians to these areas.
It was stated in court papers that crime was getting out of hand, and restrictive access was the only way to safeguard residents.
One of the residents who supported the application is a judge living in Julius Jeppe Street. The Pretoria News was asked not to name him, but he and his wife were the victims of a house robbery during the 2020 lockdown.
He told how they were accosted by armed and masked men during mid-morning. The judge explained how he was reading a newspaper in his bedroom when one of the armed men entered and ordered him to lie still on the bed.
“He then hit me over the head with my wife’s laptop.”
The judge said he and his wife were ordered to sit on the floor in the hallway while the robbers ransacked the house. They even forcibly removed his wedding ring from his finger. They left in his car.
Jan Malan of Streetsafe, who has been working for many years to ensure that some of the most crime-ridden areas are made safer places for its residents, said as far as he was aware, there were currently 126 gated communities in Pretoria.
The City of Tshwane receives about 10 applications a year from communities applying for access control.
“These applications are definitely increasing each year,” Malan said.
“At this stage, we are waiting for Samcorpark, Monumentpark West, Brooklyn Baileys Muckleneuk, Asteria Close (Octans and Delphinus streets in Waterkloof) and Queenswood. These applications have already been submitted and are awaiting an outcome.”
Malan said areas that obtained support for their applications, which were in the pipeline, included Eldoraigne Central, Eldoraigne West, Eldoraigne North, Menlopark, Garsfontein and Val de Grace.
Areas which had already received permission from the City and which were at present instituting boomed-off areas included Waterkloof, Lynnwood Ridge, Chappies Street in Lynnwood, Losch Place in Moreletapark en Sheriff’s Retreat in Constantia Park. Malan said new applications at this stage cost R12 140.00, as well as a further R3 240.00 relating to advertisement costs.
He said communities that applied with the City for access control wait about nine months to hear whether their applications had been successful or not. There was about another three month waiting period to conclude all the formalities if the City gave the green light.
Malan pointed out that once the City had given permission for an area to be access controlled, it did not mean that the permission stood forever.
He said that in terms of the law, permission was only valid for two years. A community must re-apply for permission from the City three months prior to the two years lapsing.
“Communities apply for access control when they feel that the crime in their areas is out of hand. They must, however, be able to prove that they had done everything within their power to address the crime situation and that they had tried to safeguard themselves.”
Malan said permission for access control was not a given and communities must prove that crime in their areas were out of control.
They must also in law receive 67% of the support of the home owners in their communities.
Pretoria News