Scores of homeless people are squatting in the bush in the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve.
They are a mix of harmless tragic stories, including abandonment, addiction and mental illness, to hardened criminal elements, activists and local councillor Jason McDowell says.
Attempts to get official comment from the metro have proved unsuccessful over a two-week period.
One activist, veteran Save Nahoon campaigner Kevin Harris feels there is an official reluctance to get involved while McDowell said his requests for a multi-sectoral intervention involving police, beach officials and social workers had not received a successful response.
McDowell said numbers fluctuated and the camps were in a reserve which stretched along the coast from the Nahoon River to Eastern Beach and up the Blind River to the NEX freeway.
In recent months, there has been at least one attack on the old once-popular path down from the bowling club, a fire broke out in the cladding of the sewer-line-carrying bridge across the Ihlanza caused by people living in the cramped and inhospitable interior.
It has become a bit of a danger for a woman or a man to walk alone on the beach
Toilets are regularly vandalised, a beachgoer told Off Track her aunt put her foot through a plank hole on the walkway — complaints of incidents linked to homeless loiterers are regular and numerous.
Most of the latest bush dwellers have set up camp close to the Nahoon River mouth and use the ablutions for washing and drawing water for cooking.
McDowell said trees were being chopped and cleared and wildlife poached.
“Flora and fauna are under huge attack. This is against environmental law but these folk are not being arrested.”
Bush dwellers were bringing in stolen wire and creating pollution as they burned the casing for metal.
“It’s a cesspit and a major issue for the environment which is taking a major amount of punishment.”
He said the arrival of the squatters had seen an increase in crime, from small acts of crime — pipes, house fittings and gate numbers being stolen — to muggings, stabbings and killings, “which has happened around the area. It is a major issue”.
“Our beach users have, of late, been abused. Vagrants are being very aggressive to people using the beach.
“It has become a bit of a danger for a woman or a man to walk alone on the beach.
“It needs to be policed urgently. Double policing and daily.”
He said BCM law enforcement officers needed more training, especially in their understanding of applicable laws.
“I have requested an operation I am normally part of, which is a multi-department operation which includes the SAPS and the correct authority which needs to walk through the area.
“That hasn’t happened. We need law enforcement to call and plan the operation.
“It has not happened. I have been informed that this is due to a lack of vehicles.
“I have not given up. I keep requesting that they happen a minimum of once a month to keep the area safe for everybody.”
Fire is foremost on the mind of Harris, who says the forest is dry and he often comes across fireplaces still burning.
“Large fires are being built inside clearings along the river and there is evidence of tyres being burned to retrieve the bead wire and other cable burning activity.”
On the positive side, the arrival of Tidy Towns led by Dean Knox has swung the needle on showing how much more can be done when the community steps in to support the metro.
Knox is a teacher who chose to work on the beach and directs the Jonginenge Eco Adventure project which educates many of the province’s children on Nahoon Beach which is in both a nature reserve and marine protected area.
He has focused on beach cleaning, keeping amenities clean and working with community car guards.
Off Track was present two weeks ago when McDowell and Harris teamed up with the Community Police Forum’s Sector 1 stalwart Brendan Jacoby and a team of 10 from Broubart made up of guards and senior managers who cleared 10 bags of glass from the reserve, starting at the river mouth.
Much of it was party trash.
Safety and security is 100% essential for all visitors to Nahoon Beach and surrounding reserve
Meanwhile, Nahoon Beach will be the venue for the inaugural national Granny Grommets Salt, Soul & Sisterhood festival in July which has attracted more than 130 women over 50, many of whom want to camp at the city’s Nahoon caravan park, which is under renovation and within metres of many of the bush-dwellers camps across the road.
“Safety and security is 100% essential for all visitors to Nahoon Beach and surrounding reserve,” organiser Julie Schroeter-Thompson said.
“We are concerned with the ladies wanting to use the camping facilities at Nahoon.
“We will hopefully get support from the municipality regarding safety issues. It is such a fabulous option for visitors.”
In early March, the Broubart team said the initiative against illegal occupation of the reserve, co-ordinated by the CPF, “identified just a tiny part of the problem”.
The fire hazard was “very real”.
Embers were still smouldering at many of these camps and were left unattended.
Signs of snare material were evident and toilet areas used in the bush were “extremely unhygienic” while there were signs of natural forest clearing and extensive plastic pollution.
The team was part of an ongoing collaboration between the community, private security and law enforcement to identify risks and ensure safety for residents and visitors.
The initiative had destroyed eight illegal camps.
Daily Dispatch
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