Oakdale Neighbourhood Watch members did a 12-hour patrol on Saturday to let the community know they are back on the beat, following the easing of lockdown regulations that forced watches to stand down.
Johan Fritz, the watch’s vice-chairman, said: “We lost a lot of time during the lockdown, and now that we are allowed to do more in terms of being outside, we decided to have a 12-hour patrol, just to let people know that we are back and we are to serve the community.”
Thirty-two patrollers in 14 vehicles covered the Oakdale area, from the South African Revenue Service building in Bellville to Bloemhof.
“A bulk of the group, including myself, was on duty from 7pm on Saturday till 5am on Sunday while there were also other members on patrol to complete the 12-hour shift,” Mr Fritz said. “On a normal 2-hour shift, you cover about 20km, and on Saturday we were able to cover over 400km. It was an amazing effort by all of our members and we are very grateful to the community for their donation of food, cooldrink and many other items that the members were given on the night.”
No major incidents took place during the patrol, he said. “We had an incident where a guy was drunk out in public, but it was nothing major. We did have one incident where SAPS was needed and they responded quickly and dealt with the situation.”