The Labiance Neighbourhood Watch is trying to muster support for a special-ratings area that will see residents pay higher rates for the top-up municipal service.
The special ratings area, also known as a central improvement district CID, needs 60% of residents to support the plan, but according to watch chairman Morne Otto, only 60 of the 400 households have shown an interest so far.  Â
Establishing a CID would “help in keeping the community safer,” said Mr Otto.
Having a CID in the area could see security guards performing a variety of services such as basic monitoring, armed response of a mixture of both, while CCTV cameras were also an option, he said.
Asked how much more residents in such scheme could expect to pay, Mr Otto said he couldn’t say as a specific security company would have to be chosen and the residents would still need to decide on what specific services they wanted.
“The unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in now is that people always complain when things go wrong, but when it comes to time for action then they don’t want to do anything. For most of them, they will only act after something bad happens.”
Bellville police spokesman, Captain Johnathan Blankenberg, said although the area has not experienced crimes in the past month, it is considered a house-breaking hots-pot and he had applauded the watch’s efforts.
According to Mr Otto, the watch is considering turning Labiance into a gated community as College Road is the only entrance and exit for the area, but the presence of two schools in the neighbourhood could prevent that from happening. Â