MEDIA RELEASE: Safety of Waterkloof residents are being compromised by Tshwane Metro
14 November 2007
Media Release
During the past few
months armed robberies in the East of Pretoria have escalated to such
an extent that residents are living in absolute fear.
We refer here to the recent shooting and killing of Mr Rian Kerkhof
last Thursday and the armed robbery in the Jackobs family home,
Murrayfield last Saturday and the murder of Cathy Odendaal in Lynnwood,
still fresh in our minds.
The safety of the residents of First Ridge Estate in Waterkloof Ridge
was not a priority to the ruling party during a City Planning Committee
on 13 November, when they decided not to approve the application of
First Ridge Estate for access control.
The reason is that the traffic impact study was not available for the City Planning Committee meeting.
In a joint statement the opposition parties, ACDP, DA and CDP, who
are supporting the First Ridge Estate's application for access control,
asked that their vote against the decision by the ruling party be
noted, as they all felt that the safety of the residents at this stage,
is more important than a traffic impact study.
The Council's legal advisor informed the meeting that they were
compelled by a court interdict to make a decision before the 20th of
November. The ANC wished to ignore this court interdict.
This application will now serve at the Mayoral committee as well as in
the next Council meeting where the majority of the votes may once again
prevail.
The opposition parties were adamant, that where nearly 90% of the
residents concerned agreed to the access control, the ruling party must
take responsibility for any harm that may befall the residents.