The blackened rocks tell their own story: regular fires in this cave in on the saddle side of Trappies Kop, not far from the mountain path between Clovelly and Kalk Bay.

These men were found – again – on Saturday night 21 January, with their fire which, in a blustery Cape Town, could mean [...]]]>

The blackened rocks tell their own story: regular fires in this cave in on the saddle side of Trappies Kop, not far from the mountain path between Clovelly and Kalk Bay.

These men were found – again – on Saturday night 21 January, with their fire which, in a blustery Cape Town, could mean a raging wild fire and burnt-down houses in minutes.

This time, one ran away in the dark from a watch member who came to investigate; the other, who didn’t make a dash for it, was given a lift to Kalk Bay by the police who were called to detain him. Another day, another fire.

One of them has been charged once by SANParks for overnighting on the mountain.

The cave has been cleared by the watch before. Again, it was full of detritus. The rocks themselves have been damaged and a structure built at the base of the cave.

This man was found wandering in Scarborough Road, Simon’s Town. If you know who he is, please contact the Happy Valley Shelter on 021 786 5087.

At the start of the school holidays, three boys thought it would be cool to go tagging on the fences on the Fish Hoek side of the Silvermine river. Unfortunately for them, a mountainside Clovelly Neighbourhood Watch member spotted them and, using binoculars, co-ordinated the catching of the three scattering boys.

They were [...]]]>

At the start of the school holidays, three boys thought it would be cool to go tagging on the fences on the Fish Hoek side of the Silvermine river. Unfortunately for them, a mountainside Clovelly Neighbourhood Watch member spotted them and, using binoculars, co-ordinated the catching of the three scattering boys.

They were taken to the Fish Hoek police station where the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement took over, fining their parents each R1500 as it was the first offence the boys had been arrested for.

But there was more. Law Enforcement and Clovelly Neighbourhood Watch arranged that they clean off the graffiti as part of their punishment. So on Saturday, just before New Year’s Eve, the three boys were kitted out with heavy duty gloves and they got down to scrubbing – and later painting – the walls, taking off their tags as well as tags from others.

We hope they will think twice next time.

We need not hold our noses any more: last week brave and olfactory-assaulted council workers bricked up the hole under the road, at the entrance to Wooley’s Pool, used by as residence and midden by various people also known for their drug use and other criminal activities.

We hope that the double brick [...]]]>

We need not hold our noses any more: last week brave and olfactory-assaulted council workers bricked up the hole under the road, at the entrance to Wooley’s Pool, used by as residence and midden by various people also known for their drug use and other criminal activities.

We hope that the double brick wall will be stronger than the original single one that was bashed down to form their haven.

We have evidence that it was a man wearing a [...]]]> A man who breaks in at lunch time was back in Clovelly.  A house in Clovelly Road was broken into on Thursday at 1.30pm on 27 October and, before the security company responded to the alarm, the man got away with an iPod and camera.

We have evidence that it was a man wearing a clean blue overalls, black safety shoes – and a fashion item: a large Uzzi belt buckle.

We now suspect that this man broke in to another house at lunch time on a Thursday as he was in the vicinity at the time of the break-in. It would seem he works in Fish Hoek and crosses the river to Clovelly at lunch time to make his breaks more economically productive.

The man was waiting to catch a bus at Noordhoek beach parking when he saw the metered sedan taxi. Thinking he would give the guy some business instead of letting him return empty, he [...]]]> A Noordhoek man was robbed at gunpoint after feeling sorry for a taxi driver whose clients had apparently not turned up.

The man was waiting to catch a bus at Noordhoek beach parking when he saw the metered sedan taxi. Thinking he would give the guy some business instead of letting him return empty, he hailed the taxi.

Once inside, he suggested the driver phone his clients to see where they were. The driver said he had run out of air time, so the man offered the use of his phone.

When the man reached his destination on Noordhoek Main Road and asked for his phone back, the taxi driver leaned forward, pulled a gun from under his seat, pointed it and threatened, ”I’ll f***ing shoot you!”

The car had no back number plate and was white, a late model, possibly Toyota. There was the normal black and yellow taxi sign on the roof. On the hand rail above the passenger door was a long red string that kept on bashing into the passenger’s face. The car was quite dirty inside with newspapers and a cooldrink bottle on the floor.

The man did not appear to know the area and spoke with possibly an Afrikaans accent. He was “white”, big and well built. He had dark hair and a big tattoo on his right forearm.

A SANParks ranger/tracker went with two neighbourhood watch members around the mountains behind Clovelly and Kalk Bay to look for the route of the burglars and anything else of interest to our security.

The SANParks [...]]]> People are still – illegally – living on the mountains behind Clovelly and Kalk Bay. Caves are a favourite hide-away.

A SANParks ranger/tracker went with two neighbourhood watch members around the mountains behind Clovelly and Kalk Bay to look for the route of the burglars and anything else of interest to our security.

The SANParks tracker found what are probably the tracks of one of the burglars. He pointed out likely hiding spots and ways of blocking off thieves in the future. We found extinguished fires – illegal and also dangerous in this windy weather.

The mountain is used as a route for some and there are also people living there.

The next day, Saturday 1 October, we went to a crevice leading to cave and found a well used living spot. The rocks were blackened with smoke and they had used smaller rocks to fill in the gap between the rock which forms the “wall” of the cave and the ground.  Their belongings were removed and taken to the police, by arrangement with SANParks.

On Tuesday morning 6 June three people were arrested in Clovelly Road. They had sped off when seeing

a neighbourhood watch member outside his house. He followed and alerted the neighbourhood watch and the three were arrested. On [...]]]> Two of our cases are coming to court – the murder and the car thefts.

On Tuesday morning 6 June three people were arrested in Clovelly Road. They had sped off when seeing

a neighbourhood watch member outside his house. He followed and alerted the neighbourhood watch and the three were arrested. On searching where they had been, we found a seriously injured man who died on the scene.

The three, in their early 20s, were charged with murder. One of the men and the woman were released on bail. The second man, who was turning 21 on the day of the murder, was not granted bail as he has several drug convictions. At the end of October the case comes before Simon’s Town magistrates court so that a date can be set for the High Court.

The other case relates to the two men who were plaguing the neighbourhood with a spate of car thefts over many weeks. We gathered evidence and did all-nighters for more than a week waiting for them to return. When they did – and tried to steal a bakkie – we closed in and they were arrested.

Unfortunately the prosecutor at first wanted to throw the case out. She said the two men arrested could have been any two men. Yeah, right, the same MO, same vehicle, the only two strangers in Clovelly, in the dark, at 5am, a cordon around Clovelly and never letting them out of our sight. After some discussion, the case was set for the end of September.