[WATCH]: Actonville Park burdened by social ills

Faces were also found in the park

November 9, 2018

Rivelle Govindsamy 2 minutes read

A look from the outside of the broken fence. Evidence of an empty bottle of cough mixture strewn against the kerb of the pavement. The public uses the park for recreational activities.

The City Times received a complaint from an Actonville resident recently regarding Munshi Park, which boarders Bhoja, Munshi and Nayager streets.

According to the resident, Felicia Francis, the park is used on weekends as a hotspot for partying and drinking, especially by school children.

“The park is in very bad condition,” said a disturbed Francis.

“The fence surrounding the area has been broken for a while now, and kids come here, especially over the weekend, and play music, smoke dagga (weed) and drink cough syrup mixed with Coke.

“Illegal gambling also takes place here (the park) and maintenance is not done regularly.”

Francis said she has contacted Ward 29 councillor Haseena Ismail regarding the various problems the park faces.

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Ismail said the park was being abused, and that the broken fencing posed a challenge to the already affected area.

“Munshi Street Park was upgraded in the last term, but I have received many complaints regarding the park from the time I became the Ward councillor,” said Ismail.

“Another major issue experienced at the park is loitering by scholars.

“Residents are reporting that they use the park to bunk school, smoke, gamble and do adult activities.

“These issues have been reported to both SAPS and EMPD. Unfortunately, nothing constructive has been done by the law enforcement officers to address these issues.

“The damaged gate has also been reported to the department to attend to,” Ismail explained.

The councillor said she had contacted the municipality regarding the matter but the issues still persisted.

“I have also escalated the issues of grass cutting and cleaning of parks as I do not see why we have to report normal maintenance.

“The department should have a grass cutting and maintenance schedule,” she suggested.

Upon visiting the site, the City Times found litter in the park, but more noticeably, bottles of empty cough mixture bottles could be found in the vicinity.

At the time of the visit children, under adult supervision, were engaging in the intended usage of the park by playing on jungle gym sets.

No evidence of school children loitering in the area could be identified. However, used cigarettes and emptied cough mixture bottles were found.