Cleaning up to fight grime … and crime in East Lynne, Pretoria
15 April 2025
Overgrown vegetation is an eyesore that brings down suburbs. When veld areas are not cleared or maintained by the authorities it attracts illegal rubbish and rubble dumping and these unkempt areas can become hiding spots for criminals. Residents in Jan Niemand Park in East Lynne, Pretoria were concerned with rising crime and fed-up with the degradation happening on their doorsteps. This autumn they decided to take action by kick-starting a clean-up campaign to take back their streets.
What is the problem?
Suburbs in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, including East Lynne, have had to deal with rising spikes in crime over the past few years. They attribute much of their problems to the fact that open veld areas across the city have not been maintained. It means criminals are able to hide in overgrown veld and behind bushes. Criminals can watch people then pounce on them at their most vulnerable – when they are arriving or leaving home and are completely unaware that danger lurks in the bushes. People have been robbed and hijacked of their vehicles, says local resident Susan Frazenberg.
Criminals also break into homes and make their escape running into the veld where the dense vegetation gives them cover and they can’t be easily pursued.
The higher crime incidents have made residents feel unsafe and their frustrations have been heightened by not being able to engage with the municipality about their concerns.
How are they solving it?****
This autumn the community of Jan Niemand Park decided to come together to focus on clearing the veld, starting with the corner of Suikerbekkie and Angelo Streets.
The campaign is the brainchild of Frazenberg. She got her idea off the ground by reaching out to the community and local businesses with what she had in mind and made an appeal for donations. They would need cleaning equipment, including brooms and black bags as well as heavy duty gardening tools, hand-lashers, gloves and even refreshments for volunteers.
And the community delivered, donating with resources, equipment, boots on the ground and monetary donations to be used for future clean-up campaigns. The local councillor also joined the efforts and has now been working on getting the municipality to provide waste removal trucks and other support to add to the community’s efforts. This is meant to ensure the clean-up campaigns will be ongoing events. The councillor has also worked with metro police to increase security patrols in the area and to ensure stronger implementation of bylaw infringement, especially illegal dumping.
The clean-up day has been successful in creating more visibility across the veld and eradicating hiding places for criminals. The cleaned-up space has left residents feeling more positive about the neighbourhood. Success from the first clean-up day has also motivated others to get involved. There has been a renewed spark of a sense of ownership and solidarity among community members.
What made it work?
One person came up with a simple idea to act and created an event that people could get behind – a clean-up day.
She reached out to the broader community, connecting over common concerns and invited people to donate what they could. This included volunteering time and effort, donations of equipment and resources and monetary donations.
Local businesses also got behind the idea. Their larger donations have helped ensure that financial and resource constraints can be overcome and that regular future clean-up events will be a reality.
The local councillor also came on board. This helped the community re-open a channel of communication with the authorities they felt had been ignoring their plight.
The community has built on the momentum of their success and have already planned future clean-up days.
The community used local media to ensure that the good news of their successful clean-up day would be a call to action for others to also join in the community efforts.
Acknowledgements
Author: Ufrieda Ho
Original articles: Thabang Makhubela
East Lynne residents take matters into their own hands
Photograph: The Rekord/Supplied
Get your community involved
Is there a community-driven group or caring business in your area? A dedicated group of committed people can effectively solve local problems.
Think about starting or joining community groups like a street WhatsApp group, residents' association, or community policing forum (CPF) to get help and to stay informed and involved in local issues.
Know your rights – how local government works
It’s important to understand how your local government works so that you can work with them to support what they are doing while your community continues to keep them accountable and deliver services on time. Remember you have a constitutional right to many of the services provided by local government, as well as to accountability and transparency, wherever you live and regardless of how much you earn. It is also where money collected from taxes and rates goes.
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