These crimes are very difficult to curb as the culprits escape very quickly onto the N1.  We would once again request of residents not to keep anything of value inside your car.  Put your handbags and briefcases etc in your boot and keep your cellphones out of view.  This way you will not become a victim.

A number of measures are being implemented to try and curb this crime, including patrols by security companies in Sunninghill and the SAPS.  Unfortunately these are visible and once gone the criminals once again strike.  We have appealed to Sanral via our Ward Councillor to erect concrete palisading to prevent easy access to and from the freeway.  We will inform you of their response to our appeal.

The vast majority of these crimes occur during peak hour traffic and as a result make it impossible for their victims to avoid them.  Between 06h30 and 09h00 in the morning and between 16h00 and 20h00 at night.

Please keep your eyes and ears open when stopped at any intersection and keep OFF your cellphones and keep your valuables in your boot.

In Sunninghill things were not much different. We also had our ups and downs; City Council killed our trees (in Maxwell Drive), didn’t fix our potholes, etc. On the other hand, crime remained among the lowest in Gauteng, we had good rains, exceptional weather, etc.  Something that should assist in the economic recovery of South Africa and that should focus our thoughts away from our immediate problems is the approaching Soccer World Cup. Sunninghill will most certainly see its share of the World Cup action, with many foreign tourists that will stay in our area, visiting our restaurants and shops, and travelling on our roads. We will all have to contribute to their South African experience by dressing Sunninghill in its Sunday best! Why not make a special effort with your gardens this year? Sunninghill Community will do its best to make sure that the infrastructure is in good condition, either by attending to matters itself or by making sure that City Council fulfills its obligations. 

May all of you have a successful 2010 and may we together make Sunninghill an ever better place to be!

 P A Laubscher  Chairman

In the interim please take note that the blue bags you put out yesterday (Thursday the 14th Jan) will be collected today by Mama She.

 Do not however put them out next week.  Our Sunninghill Community office will contact Pikitup to notify them of the situation.  In case this message does not reach the actual Pikitup vehicles ensure that if you do have a surplus of blue bags and use these they are put into the green bins so that Pikitup does collect them.

2010 is going to be a busy year for us all and brings with it many challenges, for our community and for our Country.  The economy, maintaining and improving our safety and security and working to improve the service delivery from Council we battled with so much last year. 

Sunninghill Community has many plans for our suburb and hope to make a difference in 2010 by:

• Putting a lot of effort into beautification and infrastructure improvement. Due to poor service delivery our suburb over the past year has been looking particularly unkept.  We will put pressure on Council and where we don’t succeed we hope to take on projects ourselves with the help of increased membership in the area.
• Security is always high on the priority list and we hope to increase the number of live monitored CCTV cameras around the area in conjunction with our network of dedicated patrol vehicles.  Although our crime has decreased as a result of our work in this area over the past two years, we can always improve.
• Sunninghill Community has submitted a proposal to Council to take control of the land next to the Sunninghill Village Shopping centre and hope to erect on this land a community centre for the use of those who live and work in our suburb.  A clinic, sports facilities and a venue in which to hold AGM’s, Sector Police meetings and educational upliftment of our people are but some of the visions for this should our application be approved.
• Another area we are looking at is the cleaning up and upgrading of the Sandspruit River area between Sunninghill and Paulshof.  This is a gem that is not being utilized and will, once cleaned and upgraded provide much sort after recreation area for a section of Sunninghill which has no public open spaces.
   
  As you can see our Ratepayers Association faces many challenges this year, but they are exciting and will be rewarding challenges and we have no doubt we can succeed in achieving the above with the support of the residents and businesses in Sunninghill.  Those willing to join us in our quest for a better Sunninghill can contact us on 011 234-3888 or suncommunity@iafrica.com or security@suncomm.co.za

Each child received at least four or five items from Santa.  The afternoon proved to be an enjoyable one for all.

 Sunninghill Community/Gardens would like to thank the Lonehill Fire Department for transporting Santa to our park, this caused huge excitement “for Santa too, who was delighted to at last ride in a fire engine”.  An enormous thanks must also go to the Sunninghill Superspar who once again donated all the gifts for the children.  The Superspar support the community so wonderfully and we would like to encourage all those in Sunninghill to support them in return

The first of these clean ups occurred on the 1^st of October where some 300 bags of litter were collected from all over Sunninghill and taken away by Pikitup.  This is a wonderful initiative by a member of Sunninghill Community, for the community.  In addition to this black bags for the litter were supplied free of charge by Builders Warehouse and food and liquid refreshments provided by Col’Cacchio Pizzeria of Bryanston, the owners of which are Sunninghill residents.

Residents, Businesses and their money working for the improvement of Sunninghill.  Thanks to all!!

At our security briefing on Tuesday we were warned by one of the security companies in Sunninghill that there is a gang targeting women with handbags at restaurants in our suburb.  This gang comprises of two white males and two white females, young in age (late 20’s early 30’s).  They come into the restaurant and order something to drink while they look for their unsuspecting victim.  The one female I believe had black hair and the other blond.  Please ensure you keep your handbags secure.  The suspects have been seen driving an old Opel Kadette with some old markings on the door where stickers have been removed.

Lastly please don’t forget about our two projects we support in Sunninghill and those are the Mama She’s recycling initiative and our support of the Avril Elizabeth Home.  Both these initiatives deserve your attention.  Find out more about both by visiting our web site www.sunninghillnews.co.za and click on the Community link.

Linda Gildenhuys

Sunninghill Community Security

security@suncomm.co.zs

0834402381

www.sunninghillnews.co.za

Marise Crescent: – At approximately 18h55 the victim was walking guest out to their car when they were accosted by two armed black males who forced them back into the house.  The owner of the house was forced to open the safe after which he and his guests were locked in the bathroom.  A large volume of goods was stolen.  The suspects were driving a C-Class Silver Mercedes Benz.  This car is believed to have been involved in a number of armed robberies all over Sandton.  Unfortunately no vehicle registration details are available.

Sunninghill Gardens – On Saturday at approximately 12h50an armed robbery occurred in Kitui Road in Sunninghill Gardens.  The victim was working in his garage when he saw through the window a number of suspects in his garden, he immediately realised all was not well and opened his garage door and ran down the road for help.  One of the suspects gave chase after him.  Luckily a neighbour down the street saw what was happening and phoned the Savika Control room.  The Savika Armed Response dedicated vehicle arrived shortly and arrested one suspect on the driveway pretending to wash the victim’s vehicle.  The Reaction Officer saw a second vehicle parked on the drive and after checking the license disk on the window of the vehicle against the registration plate and seeing that they did not match, the Reaction Officer arrested the suspect.  After securing the first suspect he arrested a second suspect after searching the garden.  The Sandton SAPS arrived promptly and after questioning the domestics, arrested the gardener whose cell phone was linked to the two suspects in custody.  The gardener was an illegal Zimbabwean.  Three suspects were taken away by the SAPS and the vehicle which was stolen recovered.

Sunninghill Park – A fast food outlet was robbed by suspects pretending to be customers.  No one was injured.

Sunninghill Community Security would like to congratulate Savika Armed Response for their swift response to a call for help which resulted in the arrest of the three criminals in Sunninghill Gardens.  The two Reaction Officers involved will both be receiving a reward for their actions.

We have seen a spiral of violent crimes all over Sandton in the past week and we would like to warn residents and businesses that as we enter the most dangerous time of the year to practice extra care and be alert and security minded.  The Sandton SAPS at a meeting held yesterday with residents associations and security companies, voiced their concern over the escalation of crime at both businesses and shopping malls and centres.  They assured us that they would be putting as much manpower as they could, both foot and in vehicles in and around these hot spots.  We urge all businesses and residents to assist us and the SAPS by being our eyes and ears and reporting anything of concern to myself on 083 440 2381, Savika Armed Response on 0861savika or in the case of a dire emergency both Savika and the SAPS 10111.  We would also like to once again as we have done many times, asked our residents to please NOT EMPLOY illegals without papers.  95% of armed robberies are performed with the help of employees, the vast majority of these being illegals.

Linda Gildenhuys

Sunninghill Community Security