A row of period houses at the upper end of Bathurst Street has been hit by vandals, who have removed the metal coverings from the corrugated iron roof of the verandah.
A row of period houses at the upper end of Bathurst Street has been hit by vandals, who have removed the metal coverings from the corrugated iron roof of the verandah.
It was the last straw for one resident, who told Grocott's Mail he has installed a Closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) in case the culprits come back. And historian Fleur Way-Jones has urged owners to take care of Grahamstown's historic homes, warning that such vandalism is becoming a trend.
When Grocott's Mail met Julian Pereira (59) Monday 25 August he was repairing the roof of his period home in Bathurst Street. The vandals had stolen the metal covering for the wooden joints between sections of the curved corrugated iron verandah roof.
"This town of yours!" he exclaimed as reporters introduced themselves. "I've had enough!" Pereira said he noticed the ridgings on his verandah roof were missing when he was busy cleaning the gutters. He immediately went down the street to check other houses in the area and was shocked to see that many other homes also had been targeted. Pereira was furious.
“I came here to start a business and if the municipality is not willing to do something about this I’m tempted to take my business to Cape Town,” he said.
“Why should things like this happen in this town? This has got to stop,” he said.
He said he had installed a CCTV camera with the intention of catching the culprits.
While Grocott's Mail was there, the police arrived and took a statement from Pereira. Way-Jones, Curator Emeritus of the Albany History Museum, said she was distressed by the repeated vandalism of properties that have been up for sale or rental. In an email to Grocott's Mail in response to the Bathurst Street incidents, she wrote, "I realise there is a shortage of building materials and these properties are seen as “abandoned” but that is not so.
There is a definite lack of respect for other people’s property that causes this state of affairs.
"The right panes of the sash windows of historic No 38 Somerset Street (the Lt Governor’s house) are broken and the building, so cherished by Prof Wesley Kotze, is looking run down.
"No 81 Bathurst Street has no wooden strats left on the veranda – a house that belonged to a charming music teacher, Miss Mary Selina Edbrooke in the 1960s and certainly worth preserving," she wrote.
"The estate agents must be tearing their hair out as these properties in Bathurst street and else are targeted by thieves; these properties will plummet in value unless protected.
"Here is a message to the owners: Take the “for sale” “to let” sign down; clean/paint/repair the building; secure your buildings and do not leave them vacant.
Show some care – the building has been around for decades and you have been a passing owner," she wrote.
