First some good news it’s quite pleasing to report that we have no reported incidents in the Klapperkop reserve since August last year which suggests that the efforts of the community, The Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve (FGNR), the Community Policing Forum (CPF) and last but not least Hi Risk Security Unit are paying dividends. However, I need to emphasise the word reported as there are unconfirmed rumours of a bike jacking in the reserve during December last yea,r I have tried to get details but without success. The only definitive statement I can make is that if, it did occur it was not reported at the relevant police station, which sadly is the case with many of the incidents. I appeal to anyone who might be on the wrong side of an incident, please take the time (and I know it to be one of the most painstaking exercises) to report it. The reason for this is that SAPS runs on statistics so, if a specific area has a certain number of incidents then SAPS allocate resources to that area. I also know that the SAPS reporting procedure feels like it’s designed to make reporting difficult perhaps to reduce the negative stats. Now for some bad news there were two attacks on cyclists over the past 6 months that occurred on the periphery of the reserve, one on the R21 and the other on George Storrar drive both close to the fountains circle. The good news is that the cyclist that was attacked on the R21 through his own efforts and with the assistance of the Brooklyn Police (who are currently out performing Sunnyside Police by some margin) caught the alleged perpetrators who are now awaiting trial for attempted murder. This was a particularly brave move on behalf of the cyclist who while convalescing having been stabbed several times took it upon himself to question the vendors selling their wares at fountains circle to see if the saw anything. It was their information and the persistence of the cyclist to take the investigating officer to the area to get the alleged perpetrators arrested. Unfortunately the news regarding Groenkloof is not positive at all with numerous attacks on cyclists and hikers being reported. The most recent was indeed one of the guys on our WhatsApp group and he used this medium to get Hi Risk to respond and to their credit they were there in minutes unfortunately not quick enough to catch the perpetrators as they made off with his brand new Carbon Cannondale (the full report of the incident is on FGNR’s facebook page) escaping into the squatter camp below Unisa. It is important to note that these incidents are occurring in the northern triangle of the Groenkloof reserve and if you do ride in Groenkloof I suggest you avoid riding in this section of the park. Based on the Councils poor response to the above incident and their intransigence regarding some of the suggestions made to make Groenkloof safer I would go further in suggesting that you should avoid Groenkloof all together. This feels like we are giving up on Groenkloof, this is not the case as we can do something but we need the council to work with us and I guess things will have to get worse before we get their attention. In the meantime statistics would suggest that Klapperkop is the safer option and it’s free with great trails. I have noticed that there is increased activity in Klapperkop with a few people still cycling on their own and I urge you to make use of the WhatsApp group to coordinate your rides with other users. The WhatsApp number is 072 136 2911 otherwise drop me a PM to get you on to the group, you will be subjected to a security check of sorts. Further to keep Klapperkop safe we need to up our efforts which will require funding and if you can make a donation please go to http://naturefriends.org.za/groenkloof/ where you’ll find the banking details. We have some ideas on fund raising that I will share with you in due course. Please be safe out there.
