Camps Bay Neighbourhood - Up To Date

Open Letter to Councillor Marga Haywood, Mrs Jane Bodin and Dr Peter Schoonraad

The following letter was published in the Atlantic Sun on 28 May 2009

I write this letter in reaction to the Atlantic Sun’s article, ‘Security initiative under fire over illegal practices’ published on Thursday 21 May 2009.

As a Resident of Camps Bay, I was completely gutted by the contents of Sellecca Lang’s damaging article against those of us, who have spent the last fourteen months protecting and  ‘saving’ the lives of families in our suburb. To be called illegal, to be rebuked for not asking permission to stop crime, to be questioned about “how can a hut protect you ... because they don’t have surround windows?” And, to have CBW named and shamed as being “singularly ineffective in stopping the gang” was indeed a gut wrenching read. The fact is, Dr Schoonraad, after an all night vigil by CBW Patrollers and SAPS, one of our CBW members unequivocally radio-ed SAPS at 09h35 on Sunday 07 December 2008 which led (minutes later) to SAP’s successful arrest of Luis Momadi (a member of the gang currently awaiting trial in the Cape Town Regional Magistrates Court for 21 counts of Armed Robbery and Rape in Camps Bay). Perhaps Dr. Schoonraad does not know about the safe houses CBW provided to the undercover Special Forces, how CBW fed and looked after the Special Forces during their investigations of the Momadi gang.

As such, we can only begin to wonder if, Dear Editor;

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have never reacted to an Armed Robbery call-out and hence have not witnessed a crime scene where the Victims have just been forced by gun wielding assailants to lie, tied up, face down on the floor wondering if they will ever see their children again, as their house was being ransacked of valuables and sentimental possessions. There were no words to describe this Couple’s trauma, shock and sadness. 

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have never risked their lives by spending six hours on a cold night in December 2008 staking out a green belt in search of the Armed Gang that had just perpetrated a heinous crime. Can they even imagine a police helicopter hovering metres above their heads spotlighting the area, as dog units, SAPS and CBW Patrollers scan the area, attempting to flush out the armed criminals. 

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have zero comprehension of the several grueling experiences sitting in Court 16 eye-to-eye with the Momadi Gang during their bail hearings. Enduring hours of cross questioning and testimonies – every word laboriously being translated into Xhosa, followed by Portuguese and then Nigerian languages – believe me, it is an arduous and unnerving experience. But we have filled the benches, alongside the families of the Momadi Gang, in support of the Prosecutor and the Organised Crime Unit, who have diligently proceeded forth - oblivious of ‘illegal’ huts and other such irrelevant, accusations.

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have no idea just how horrible it feels to witness the aftermath of a shocking crime scene where an innocent UK family, who came to Cape Town to get married, so did not deserve what the Attackers did to them – just days before their wedding. How would the Critics have comforted the fragile, crying Bride who had just had her engagement ring stolen in a brutally traumatic, armed robbery and, who wanted to take the next plane home?

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have never been phoned at 1 a.m. with their neighbour screaming for help as two screw driver wielding, military trained Ovambo’s bang on her sliding door screaming that they are going to KILL HER. And then, after escaping, the same men, run along the mountain to another home and hold up a grieving husband, with a knife to his throat forcing him to bite off his rings. Were the Critics on both scenes? Within minutes? We were!!

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article have never acknowledged how CBW Exco, Sector Manco’s and Camps Bay Watch Residents have devoted 14 months of leadership, 14 months of time, 14 months of donations, 14 months of Patrols in the dark hours of the night and, 14 months of volunteering their services for the greater good of all - to protect and save families in a suburb under siege from hardened, armed, serial criminals.

Perhaps it is because … the Critics in your article, sadly, just don’t get it!

Sally Merrington
Camps Bay






   
       

This article applies to: Middle, Rontree 1, Rontree 2, Glen, Bakoven, Village, Clifton