Cape Town - The City has come under fire from Bonteheuwel residents who say their complaints for several years over the criminal activities taking place at the local tennis courts have fallen on deaf ears, as the situation worsened.
The Bonteheuwel Tennis Club belongs to the Western Province League and competes in both singles and doubles matches.
However, members feared for their lives as they say gangsters were taking over the space, which represented a beacon of hope in the community.
Tennis club member, Donavan Williams, said: “We are trying to build a tennis club to keep our kids off the street and out of gangsterism and drugs and we are getting no support or response from the powers that be.
For the past few years, we have been in contact with the City of Cape Town.
“The structure (a building on the site) has been vandalised to the point where everything – geyser, gates, windows, doors, light fittings, ceiling, paving and everything else you could sell for a hit of “tik”, was stolen.
“The gangsters, drug users and vagrants have now decided to make it a home to themselves.
“Every time we play, the situation gets hostile.
“We host teams from all over Cape Town during the league season and it is extremely embarrassing to host these teams in the conditions that we sit with.
The place gets cleaned and as soon as it is clean it is made filthy by these bad elements. The gangsters and drug dealers even pee and number two on the court’s surface and everywhere else possible.”
He added that the place also no longer had ablution facilities, as the toilets had been completely destroyed by vandalism.
He said their complaints to the City has just been met with empty promises while the situation worsened.
The club’s chairperson, Andre van Tura, said the existence of the tennis club was at risk, as they were not able to accommodate juniors due to the danger.
The mayoral committee member for community services and health Patricia Van der Ross, said the facility was checked regularly and cleaned on a bi-weekly basis.
“The department, in collaboration with SAPS, also do regular patrols around the facility.
“The vandalised building will be bricked up to eradicate any bad elements and cease negative activities.
“Roller shutters will be installed to prevent access.
“The materials have been ordered and the gates will be welded and secured,” she said.
“There are also plans to replace the fencing and to resurface one of the courts in the new financial year (July 2023 onwards). The closure of the building and the repairs to the gates will be finalised in the next two weeks, no later than 18 May 2023.
“The fencing and resurfacing of one of the courts will be done in the new financial year, 2023/24,” she said.
She added that once the repairs were completed, there was a plan to engage the Bonteheuwel Tennis Club to assist with a tennis development plan to grow tennis among the youth in the area.
Cape Times