BCM warns vandals to stop theft, destruction of popular pathway
BUFFALO City Metro Municipality and residents are up in arms about the vandalism at the Gonubie boardwalk and are warning those responsible to stop.
BCM are making an appeal to the culprits to refrain from destroying municipality and community property.
Some of the poles from the boardwalk are missing and one of the three benches have been completely destroyed and damaged.
BCM spokesperson Sibusiso Cindi came out strongly against the vandalising of its property this week.
“Closer to and in winter time, people steal the boardwalk poles to make fire and keep warm, but we are asking them to stop this behaviour,” Cindi said.
He said if anyone spotted someone trying to steal and damage public property, they should take a picture of the incident and report it to the nearest police station.
The 500m-long boardwalk stretches out towards the main beach all along the shore – which is an important thoroughfare for tourists and residents of the metro.
John Fraser, who frequently visits his family in East London, said the missing poles were a cause for concern as they were a safety hazard.
“There are kids who run along the boardwalk, what if they miss a step and fall? “This needs to be fixed by the municipality. Gonubie beach is a very beautiful one,” he said.
Last year, residents on the Nubians Unlimited Facebook page took to the social media platform to vent their frustrations about the decaying state of the boardwalk – once the jewel in the crown of Gonubie Beach’s long-lost blue flag status.
Gonubie Protect chairman, Daniel Ellis, said they did patrols along the boardwalk and had also noticed the vandalism, but they had not caught anyone in the act.
“I don’t know why people do this.
“This is our [every resident of East London] beach and we need to take care of it as best as we can. We need to work together in making sure that it is always in a good condition and safe for everyone to enjoy,” he said.
Gonubie resident, Mariam Voster, said she did not understand how the benches on the boardwalk could be in the condition they were.
“Someone is stealing these poles and they need to stop it. BCM does something nice and then there is that one person who is going to destroy it,” she said.
Cindi said that before this, they (BCM) were unaware that there was a situation at the Boardwalk because no one has reported it. “We are going to inform the relevant department and they will go and have a look. If the damaged benches belong to the municipality we shall kick-start the fixing process.”
