Keep money, valuables out of criminals’ sight

With the Easter Festival over, the Carnival is on our doorstep and we hope that it will be a happy and successful one. A couple of things to keep in mind when attending the carnival is that there may be pickpockets and other criminals present. Don’t give young children money to carry around with them and most importantly don’t allow young children to wander around unattended: always keep an eye on them. When drawing money or opening your purse or wallet, do so discreetly: you never know when people are watching to see how much money you have. Have a happy carnival! 

Our crime stats for March levelled out with no significant spikes. Theft from motor vehicles is still a problem. Recently goods were removed from within bakkie canopies, because the canopies hadn’t been locked. If your canopy does not lock, put your parcels behind the seat in the bakkie. At night, take everything inside out of sight.  

We still have a lot of crime taking place that could be avoided. SAPS, Security companies and the CPF remain focused on trying to eradicate as much crime and remove criminals from our area as possible; however, we remove one group of vagrants, only for a new group to arrive. It doesn’t help that we still have residents thinking that they are good Samaritans by supporting them, when in fact they may instead be aiding and abetting criminals. On one social media group, users flagged a house where someone was facilitating criminal activity. We need to apply pressure on anyone helping  criminals. 

More safety tips from our SAPS liaison officer 

Many items recovered by SAPS cannot be returned to the owners, because the owners have not gone to the police station to report a theft. Mark important articles and take photos of them, especially jewellery. SAPS says that their biggest headache is negligence. Remember that you will never be fully compensated for an item stolen through negligence. By way of example, a Makhanda resident recently travelled to Cape Town in a Toyota double cab. It was stolen within a day of her arriving there because she did not check to see if the doors were locked when she walked away from the vehicle.  

Always test the vehicle door handle as you leave.  

Once again, we would like to remind residents and their guests how careful they need to be when they are swimming in our ocean. We have many local heroes saving lives of people who get into trouble; but there may come a time when no one sees you getting into trouble in the water. Treat the sea with respect. 

Spring tides, with higher (and lower) than normal tides, and stronger rip currents, occur twice a month at full moon and new moon. These affect the tides a day or two before and after the full or new moon. Here are the dates for the rest of the year (first, the full moon; second date is the new moon): 

13 April, 27 April 

12 May, 26 May 

11 June, 25 June 

10 July, 24 July 

9 August, 22 August 

7 September, 21 September 

7 October, 21 October 

5 November, 19 November 

4 December, 19 December 

Please swim between the flags on beaches where there are lifeguards (Kelly’s Beach in Port Alfred and Kariega Beach in Kenton-on-Sea). 

If you would like to come forward to volunteer your services in the Port Alfred CPF please contact Mike Hockin at 072 4417896. We need people to help us patrol the streets to deter criminals looking for easy opportunities.

• This article was first published in Talk of the Town, April 24, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.