PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The neighbour-hood watch group The New Horizons Taakmag has had a challenging time addressing escalating crime in the area over the past week, with offences ranging from stolen building materials to drug smuggling.
The New Horizons Taakmag was launched about three years ago after residents realised that authorities do not have the capacity to respond to all residents' issues around crime and other concerns, and it has been bearing fruit ever since.
The group's Claude Terblanche explains that the neighbourhood watch group focuses on the crime and other issues faced by this Plettenberg Bay community.
"The reason we decided to create the group was because the community felt that the police and other authorities did not have the capacity to effectively deal with the community's concerns, especially around crime," Terblanche says.
The group consists of mostly local men who not only fight crime, but also do patrols of the area, listen to the community's concerns and respond to these complaints. The team currently consists of 15 members.
He says that they have had many successes over the past three years with the most recent over the past week.
"The team was called to respond after crime increased in the area over the past few weeks."
This included reports of bricks being stolen from one resident's yard and drugs being smuggled near Plett Secondary School.
"We received another call from a resident who reported someone selling paving to the community. The paving was allegedly being removed from the sidewalk between the New Horizons township and the N2," says Terblanche.
Bitou law enforcement was informed and the suspect was arrested.
"While on duty, members of the group also did a quality check of products at every shop in the community.
Expired products were found at almost every shop." Some of these products expired more than two years ago.
The New Horizons Taakmag, a local neighbourhood watch group, visited shops in the community to do product quality checks. Many products were found to have expired.
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