MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay Municipality is in the process of obtaining a court order, so an abandoned Heiderand house, a health and safety concern to residents for 15 years, is demolished.
The municipality stated this, this week.
Residents' concerns include the house being a hide-out for criminals storing items that could have been stolen, people using the house to take drugs and the structural integrity of the house and the safety of the people inside.
There are also concerns over the house being a health hazard. Although the windows and doors have been boarded up, people have pulled wooden planks from one of the windows at the back to enter.
Inside is a mass of piles of clothing, shoes, bedding, magazines, books, papers, cigarette butts, alcohol bottles, food packaging, human faeces and remnants of fires.
Heiderand resident Susara Bester said she has even seen schoolchildren come to the house to smoke dagga.
Clothes, shoes, alcohol bottles and other items.
Another resident, Salome van der Mescht, said she feels unsafe, knowing people are coming to the house as they please, possibly taking drugs and involved in theft and housebreaking.
Danie Koch, also living nearby, said he worries that people at the house use it to watch the comings and goings of residents in the area.
Paul Maré said there are patrols around the house and people are often seen moving around inside.
He says the roof is starting to collapse and it might collapse fully when people are inside, seriously injuring or even killing people.
Danie Koch outside the house. The roof seems to be caving in.
The residents have said they have sent complaints to the municipality about the house multiple times.
Heiderand Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Elmarie Landman noted the house is "definitely a problem" and that she is aware the municipality has started a legal process to have the house demolished.
"The municipality has tried maintaining it by cutting the grass and boarding up the entrances. Unfortunately, legal processes take time. I understand people living near the house are concerned. The neighbourhood watch often patrols past the house and calls the police if suspicious activity is spotted or people lay complaints," she said.
The municipality says there is a late estate with regards to the house and various challenges have been encountered, including with the serving of documents.
It urges residents to report all suspicious activities to the police.
A fire was made in one of the rooms.
A pipe, suspected to be used to smoke drugs.
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