Spike in Vanes break-ins blamed on growing informal settlement

RESIDENTS of one of Uitenhage's most affluent suburbs, Vanes Estate, are seeing red and blaming the spike in crime on a growing informal settlement across the road from their posh homes.

Since its establishment five years ago, shacks in Mandelaville – better know as Polla Park – have gradually filled the vacant land which used to separate the two areas.

The shacks occupy about 2.5km2. The eyesore, as it is described by Vanes residents, has expanded across the length of Ross Gradwell Street and Cawood Crescent, with land recently being cleared along the bottom of Verwoerd Drive for further expansion.

Vanes resident Andrea Shelby, who has been living in her Verwoerd Drive home for 26 years, said: "Clearly the informal settlement has no intention of stopping its growth. - Tremaine van Aardt