A Malvern businesswoman has said the suburb and Jules Street are deteriorating.
Mrs Eve Jacobs said the dirt and crumbling pavements is dissuading new investors from coming to the suburb.
She and her husband have owned a building in Jules Street for the past 60 years.
“At that time, everything was fine. Things have changed in the past 15 years or so. Now the pavements are crumbling. Cars are parked on the pavements. Some shops keep their stock on the road. Vendors trade on the pavements, some in front of the shops without the owners’ consent. Everyone is doing what he or she wants. It’s a mess and a nightmare. No one would want to invest in a place like this,” said Mrs Jacobs.
She said the bylaws are being ignored by those she says are culprits and enforcers.
“The area is getting worse by the day. No one is enforcing the bylaws of the City of Joburg (CoJ). It’s just a free for all. As a ratepayer, I am concerned about the state of Jules Street and Malvern as a whole. There is no reason why our suburb cannot be like other suburbs like Kensington. We are paying our rates and taxes too,” said Mrs Jacobs.
The ward 118 councillor, Clr Mike Spadino, said both the community and government have to play their role.
“There are chain stores and small businesses that litter while conducting their business. The chain stores, after receiving their stock, leave the boxes on the pavement. That attracts other illegal dumping. There are many shops selling food and then dump the waist on the pavements. Hairdressers, who work on the pavement, leave hair pieces all over. There is a culture of dumping rubbish on the pavements and not in the bins. It looks like the people of Malvern like filth,” said Clr Spadino.
He said the distribution of pamphlets by Pikitup, educating people about the cleaning up programme, did not help.
“People still do not clean up after themselves,” he said.
Clr Spadino said the city is not monitoring the area as it should.
“The city does not monitor and enforce its bylaws in the area as it is doing in the other areas. I normally arrange with the urban inspector and the Plus 10 JMPD officers to organise an operation to deal with issues of illegal traders and business selling or working on pavements. The major problems are the informal panel beaters and mechanics repairing cars in the streets,” he said.
Clr Spadino said the city has to be strict when dealing with these issues.
“The city needs to be tougher in applying its bylaws and issue fines to people who transgress. The repeat offenders must lose their licences to trade. The health inspectors must go out and fine businesses that transgress,” he said.
The EXPRESS sent an inquiry on February 9 to the Johannesburg Roads Agency spokesperson, Bertha Peter-Scheepers, and requested comment by February 10. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
