CPNW NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2025

Date posted: February 5, 2025

Dear Neighbours

Crime Update

Unfortunately, the holiday crime surge we noted in the last newsletter seems to have continued, at least through December, with a number of opportunistic crimes suggesting that more people were moving through the area with a growing focus on Beach and Mountain Road.

On 21 December an attempted bicycle theft at 06h00 was foiled by ADT Officer Maseti who managed to apprehend the suspect in possession of the bicycle. For reasons we are not privy to, the owner declined to press charges.

On 23 December at around 11h00 there was an attempted break-in to the house at the junction of Mountain and Beach Roads. It seems that the perpetrators jumped the fence and triggered an alarm whilst trying to get into the house. ADT responded but could not access the house as the owners were away and had made no arrangement for access by a security company. (This issue can be overcome by placing a key in a Lockbox with a keycode on your gatepost and providing your Security company with the code when you go away.)

On 27 December, in the early evening, a laptop was stolen from a cottage on a property in Rupert Way. It seems that the perpetrator was wandering through the area and accessed the property via a tree branch, then entered the cottage through an open sliding door. The laptop bag with other contents untouched was found hanging in the tree. The suspected perpetrator was seen on camera entering and leaving the area but is not known to have previously been in the area.

Another daytime burglary took place on 31 December at about 13h00, from a cottage on a panhandle property above Beach Rd. The residents had left the property at about 12h30 and got back to discover the break-in at about 14h30.

The suspects had kicked open the door and ransacked the cottage, taking a laptop, jewellery and an electric drill, as well as minor items, including a 2-litre juice bottle that allowed identification of the suspects on camera, calming walking up Beach Rd sipping the juice! The camera footage has been shared with security companies, SANParks and SAPS for further investigation. Investigation of the latter incident revealed reports of regular robbery attempts at two building sites high above Beach Road. (We are in the process of engaging with the owners and getting them on board.)

Border Concerns

The border of our neighbourhood along Chapman’s Peak Drive has become a particular area of concern in the past few months. It seems to have become a key point of access because we have better cover on the other boundaries and building activity in that area has increased.

This area is unfortunately not easy to secure, as the boundary is uneven with undeveloped plots, areas of Road Reserve and TMNP property between fences, uneven ground and areas of dense bush. We are currently mapping the area in detail, developing a database of property owners, and looking at access points to develop a strategic approach to secure it. We will in due course contact neighbours on that boundary to take this further and we would love to hear everyone’s thoughts!

We also had word that the SANParks hut was broken into, as on 15 January the door was found open and a wheelbarrow was missing. Camera footage has revealed no sign of the wheelbarrow being taken so we can only guess it was taken into the bushes and down the beach.

Car Badges

Finally, and most recently, we received several reports of car badges being removed from cars and stolen on Saturday 1 February. A review of camera footage revealed three young adolescent males, at least one of whom was identified as a local resident, brazenly at work, clearly ignorant of camera technology!

This is, sadly, a criminal act, and we would fully defend the right of any of the complainants to lay a charge with SAPS, to whom we will provide footage (which we have not otherwise made publically available), if requested to. We are aware that the parents of at least one of the boys were appropriately concerned and eager to contact any complainants. We are assisting in this matter and hope a resolution will be found that includes both compensation and justice.

Thriving Businesses

It has been great to see how local businesses are thriving, particularly at the Red Herring Centre, but this also raises the potential for both undesirable behaviour and crime. We are hopeful that, as good neighbours, these businesses will direct resources to ensuring that their patrons’ cars are safe and parked without disrupting the lives of residents. In what we hope are isolated incidents, cars have been parked inappropriately and affected access to local properties. City Law Enforcement has advised us that their Officers will respond to reports of such incidents by phoning 021 480 7700 or dialling 107 on a landline.

Fire Risk

Aside from the surge in crime, our other major concern at this time is fire. It has been 10 years since the last major fire in our area, and our recent wet winter with plenty of plant growth means that fuel loads are particularly high, with hot and windy conditions adding to the risk. We are sure that nobody who has seen recent footage of the devastation in Los Angeles needs any further warning, but just in case:

• Please be careful with any fire risks and keep the City Wildfire Emergency Number: 021 480 7700 and the emergency cell number 112 on your phones.


• Have a good look at your property to think about fuel load and “ladder fuels”. Many properties that were damaged in the last fire were some distance from the actual fire-line and fell victim to secondary fires as a result of falling embers. So, it is critical to remove anything that might be set alight, particularly if it is touching a building or its roof. Think in particular about dead branches, branches touching buildings and dry bushes around trees that could then set the trees alight.


• Check for accumulated dry leaves, particularly in gutters, under garage doors and in piles around the garden.


• Remove tall dry grasses and take this opportunity to do all the radical pruning you have put off – just be sure to remove the debris!!


• Check the hydrants in your street: follow the markings on the road and make sure the hydrants are visible (not buried under plants).  If you can't clear them, log a call with the city.  You don't want the firefighters to waste time digging out the hydrant when your property is going up in smoke!


• Finally, be sure that any firefighting equipment is functioning and available, including your radios!

I have to admit that despite sending out this kind of warning every year, after seeing of devastation in LA I did a proper “fire audit” of my own property. What I saw was truly frightening and really shocked me! Some of the problems are trees that were there before the house, but there was a lot of pruning I could immediately do, and vegetation I could hire someone to remove.

Importantly, it also gave me a strategic sense of what to  prioritise if a fire is approaching, what makes our home vulnerable, and how to defend against that. There is also a worrying thicket just over the fence, so conversations with neighbours need to happen. What struck me most during the last fire was the hot wind that came through well ahead of the actual fire-line, making everything in front of it tinder-dry. Then, well before the flames, came the sudden showers of embers that set woodpiles, bushes, even wooden fences alight. It is at this moment that the preventative measures really matter: small flareups here and there are easy to contain, but not when each is set up like a bonfire!

Keep Noordhoek Safe and Secure!

As with security, these are the constant small garden tasks that seem mostly unimportant, yet in one moment could mean more than anything else! So, we need to establish them as part of our lives, and the key to that is small sustainable acts, put together in a coherent strategy, and shared with others. Let’s keep on keeping Noordhoek safe and secure in 2025!

The CPNW Committee