Ward councillor Wouter de Vos has urged parents not to let their children play on the dunes next to West Street, Sarepta.
Sarepta’s ward councillor, Wouter de Vos, has advised parents to keep their children away from dunes that he says are dangerous.
Mr De Vos’s plea comes as the area near West Street has become popular among children during the school holidays.
The danger is posed by dunes that are on the verge of collapse, he says.
“The sand dunes in West Street near Lupin are dangerous, tempting as it may be to play there. Please keep the children safe,” Mr De Vos said in a video to residents.
“I know it’s holidays and the children are restless and want to play, but I urge residents to keep their children as far away as possible from this place.”
A Kuils River law enforcement source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said gangsters were also known to frequent the area.
“There is a gang faction that hangs out there in the bushes, and it’s in the vicinity of where the children play. It’s one of the most brutal gangs in Kuils River.”
Kuils River Civic Association chairman Isaac Jenecke said children had played on the site for years despite claims of gang activity there being commonplace. He also claimed the area had heritage significance and had been home to the Khoi people.
“The area is one of the last of our indigenous environment heritage sites left,” he said, adding that Kuils River schools sometimes took pupils there for picnics.
Mr Jenecke claimed that trucks had arrived in the area in the first week of July and the dunes had been partially removed in the presence of Mr De Vos, but no ecological study had been done beforehand.
Mr De Vos did not respond to this allegation by time of publication. A call to his phone went unanswered, and he did not respond to the five questions sent to him on Wednesday 13 and followed up with a reminder on Thursday July 14.