Klapperkop Nature Reserve Controlled Access

[River Rat]

I have just been informed that Klapperkop Nature Reserve will be closed from 17h30 in the evening until 07h00 in the morning. Anyone wishing to enter the reserve when it is open will be required to produce identification and sign in when they enter the reserve and sign out when they leave. If you urgently need to access the reserve when closed please use the number on the sign to contact the authorities.

 

I am working with the authorities to see if we can extend the opening hours and to provide access cards for easier access.

 

[River Rat]

Klapperkop Closure Update

Let me start off by acknowledging that I was well aware of the fact that Nature Conservation (NC) did not have their ducks in a row with regards to the night time closure and the signing in process. But we were faced with Hobson’s choice, delay closing it until everything was in place and risk someone being attacked on the weekend or close it and risk a backlash from people wishing to use the reserve and being irritated at the rather cumbersome process. In the end it was an easy choice as I would rather be apologising to the latter group of people than the former, please accept my apology for the inefficient process.

 

So let’s get straight into what went wrong, in the first instance the signing in of groups of cyclists was rather shambolic at the start where everyone was asked to sign in but this was changed to one person signing for the group, as one would do for a vehicle with more than one occupant, this could also work for groups of runners or walkers. People were also asked to sign out whereas the intention was to issue a numbered entrance pass which is handed in upon exit, no signing out required. This should be remedied in due course and should also help with cyclists doing laps where you enter and exit the reserve, with the idea being that you sign in once and although you hand in the pass when exiting the first time you would use the number to enter and exit the reserve for the day. Further, while the vehicular gates were locked the pedestrian gates were not which helped keep out potential victims at night but not the criminals. This was remedied yesterday evening when I personally locked these gates and they will remain locked.

 

In future you can expect that you will be asked to produce identification upon signing in and at some stage no ID means no entry. This can be made easier if you decide to become a member of Friends of Groenkloof & Klapperkop Nature Reserves (FGKNR) and you will be issued with membership card which can be used as your ID and entrance pass when you produce it at the entry and exit points. I will keep you informed as to the price and process once FGKNR have sorted this out but I will try to make sure that it will be available before ID at the entrance becomes an issue. If you don’t know FGKNR is a not for profit organisation and proceeds of this will be used to upgrade facilities within the reserves. For example they are providing the funds to repair NC’s quad bike so that it can be used to patrol the reserve during the day to keep us safer.

 

Now for the big one namely opening times, 7h00 to 17h30 is clearly not ideal and thanks to a labour dispute regarding payment of overtime this might be reduced even further. The only way to resolve this is to pressurise Council of Tshwane into instituting a double shift and NC do not have the resources to do this and we need to help them to get more personnel. You can help by phoning this number 012 358 7095/6 and making your desired opening times known to Metro Police, I’m targeting 5h30 am to 19h00 pm as something that is workable with two shifts. If like me you feel strongly about this please make your voices heard and make the phone call.

 

Finally, to those of you that expressed your unhappiness on these issues to me in a mature, civil and constructive manner I thank you and I look forward to engaging with you again in the future. For those of you that did not have the maturity to approach me and the gate staff in a civil manner don’t be surprised if you are simply ignored.

[bertusras]

Thanks for the updates RR!!

 

Struggling to find info on how to join FGKNR?

[Spinnekop]

Thanks for your efforts!

 

I, for one, have not visited Klapperkop in ages.  And so a lot of my riding buds.

And sadly the cycling numbers will decline on this beautiful piece of earth.

Criminals won.

 

It's viable for runners maybe as they spend 30-60min in the reserve but cyclists doing 10-15min in and out it is just not an option to spend 10min to sign in and out, ID cards. Que here etc.  They will go around.  It's just easier. 

 

Good idea for the reserve and the safety surrounding it though.  I hope this will get the bastards robbing and assaulting people out of there.

 

Good luck with your efforts.

Thank you.

Without people like yourself that cares and tries etc., this society would be a total gemors.  

So thank you.      

[River Rat]

Thanks for the updates RR!!

 

Struggling to find info on how to join FGKNR?

Bertus they tend to communicate via their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofGroenkloofNatureReserve/

They do have a website http://naturefriends.org.za/groenkloof/

 

But I would wait until they announce the procedure regarding the membership cards first, I will post details on here.

[River Rat]

Thanks for your efforts!

 

I, for one, have not visited Klapperkop in ages.  And so a lot of my riding buds.

And sadly the cycling numbers will decline on this beautiful piece of earth.

Criminals won.

 

It's viable for runners maybe as they spend 30-60min in the reserve but cyclists doing 10-15min in and out it is just not an option to spend 10min to sign in and out, ID cards. Que here etc.  They will go around.  It's just easier. 

 

Good idea for the reserve and the safety surrounding it though.  I hope this will get the bastards robbing and assaulting people out of there.

 

Good luck with your efforts.

Thank you.

Without people like yourself that cares and tries etc., this society would be a total gemors.  

So thank you.      

It's my pleasure.

 

As for signing in and signing out I think once the membership cards are in use this could be down to less than  minute so watch this space. With regards to safety I expect this to improve dramatically over the coming weeks as we get the patrols going. This has proven to be  huge success in Groenkloof Nature reserve and we have not had a single attack for over two and half years.

[Vetplant]

Just checking in whether there is still a sign-in process at Klapperkop?

 

I would like to do some laps from the Groenkloof Circle up to the radio tower to exercise my extended climbing technique, but the interruption of signing in might not be ideal.

[Cav']

I was there 3 or 4 times in the last month and did not have to sign in at all..

There was also only a guard, on one of those occasions.

[arendoog]

Sometimes you sign in and other times not .It all depends how far the "guard" has to walk from his comfortable position .Seems like 2 paces is the cut off for me .If he can reach you with an extended arm within 2 paces you sign ,more than that or if he has to lift the boom i usually ride through

[River Rat]

The short answer is yes you have to sign in but in reality it's haphazard. Please remember this is an interim measure where Nature Conservation are using general labourers to perform a security function.

 

This is how it's supposed work: Everybody has to produce positive identification and sign in . You will be issued with a numbered entry card  that you return to the guard when leaving the reserve. Fo groups of cyclists / runners only one person signs in and out. If you're doing laps you sign in once and sign out once but you tell the guards that you are doing laps and they hold your card until you have finished (basically it's out of circulation fo the day).

 

What's happening on the ground is quite sad actually, some cyclists have taken it upon themselves to abuse the guards to the extent that they just let them through without signing in. This is sad because I'm trying to negotiate extended opening hours so that we can train from 5am to 19h00pm but as I keep being reminded by NC  "cyclists are uncooperative so why should they be accommodated". What a group of us are doing is insisting that we must sign in and out, please help by doing the same.

 

As for the future NC have requested proper security guards to be appointed at the gate so the process will get tougher and we need to be in good standing if we are to negoatiate a quicker access for ourselves.

[Scalpel]

Sadly this has failed in my opinion. We do not sign in. On more than one occasion I have seen no one at the gates. So everyone can just drive trough as they please. Since the gates have been closed the stables at the Fort has been broken in twice! So after hours with the gates closed it has become a free for all for criminals!! No patrols after hours. On more than one occasion we have been at the gates at 5:30 am and the gates were open. So this system is not working. I know a lot of people put a lot of effort in but so far in my opinion its not working.

[River Rat]

Sadly this has failed in my opinion. We do not sign in. On more than one occasion I have seen no one at the gates. So everyone can just drive trough as they please. Since the gates have been closed the stables at the Fort has been broken in twice! So after hours with the gates closed it has become a free for all for criminals!! No patrols after hours. On more than one occasion we have been at the gates at 5:30 am and the gates were open. So this system is not working. I know a lot of people put a lot of effort in but so far in my opinion its not working.

To say that it has failed is not entirely true, in the two and half months prior to the closing of the gates we had 60 muggings, 1 attacker killed, 1 attacker wounded and 4 arrested. Since the gates have been closed there have been no muggings, no cyclists or runners have been attacked, but the stables have been burgled twice and the houses adjacent to the reserve on Herbert Baker Street have been targeted as well. It is important to note that the stables and Herbert Baker have been targeted before so to say that the closing of the gates is the cause is simply wrong. However, there’s no doubt that huge improvements are required and there are two initiatives that have been started to address this. The first was mentioned in my earlier post where NC have sent a request to the City Manager for proper security guards to be placed at the gates, unfortunately the wheels of council work very slowly and I don’t think we’ll see any movement on this for at least a 8 weeks. The second initiative I started was to get the estate managers of the adjacent estates with the residents of the Fort / Stables into a meeting with NC to see what can be done as an interim plan. This plan requires the residents of the estates to fund a security initiative which although it would improve their safety it would also benefit cyclists and runners alike. The estates are not comfortable with funding this without seeing some sort of contribution from cyclists and runners, and please bear in mind that some cyclists are not helping by abusing the current NC staff. The actions of a few are making us as cyclists to appear to be belligerent, entitled and self-serving. This is why I’m appealing to anyone that uses the reserve to at the very least treat the guys at the gate with respect particularly when they ask you sign in.