This is the opinion of Benoni horticulturalist Stephen Rehbock, who spoke at a Benoni Horticultural Society meeting on Saturday (September 17).
Tania Forrest-Smith, of Save the Bunny Park Animals, was also invited to the meeting to discuss her involvement at the park in the past 14 months.
“It is a desert, it’s horrific,” Stephen said.
“If you go to the Karoo now, you will see more vegetation than there is at the Bunny Park.
“The Bunny Park is a man-made disaster.”
Rehbock, who worked for the then Benoni Town Council’s parks department for roughly 13 years, criticised the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) for their management of the park, but suggested these changes he’d implement to make it the popular landmark he said it once was.
•The dams need to be dredged
•Grass needs to be planted. “Every citizen in Benoni is disappointed with the condition of the Bunny Park at the moment. It’s a man-made desert; it is not something that has happened overnight. The veld management has not been what it should be, most probably for the last 30 years. When it was developed it looked absolutely magnificent.”
•Reservoirs need to be made of the dams for irrigation purposes
•Organic material (garden refuse) dumped at the Hospital Road dump site could be taken to the park. The material can then be worked into the soil. “With all the garden refuse we have in Benoni, we could do a wonderful job.”
•Areas need to be cordoned off from animals and people to ensure grass is able to grow. “The bunnies and the picnic areas have to be different, because it is a different environment that you need there. You can share that environment and the lawns at certain periods of time, but once you get too much traffic and too many animals eating off that vegetation, you are going to have nothing for anybody – the bunnies or the humans and that is why the management is so important.”
•Modern play equipment and play areas for children
•Establishing a park run
•Planting lavender on the western side of the park, which would get the attention of the public.
The horticulturalist’s message comes days after South African Tourism country manager Debbie Damant promoted the Bunny Park as tourism destination at Ekurhuleni’s inaugural Tourism Conference, held on September 13 and 14, at the Lakes Hotel and Conference Centre.
But Rehbock said there is little to promote.
“I would certainly be ashamed to tell anybody about the Bunny Park at this stage of the game,” he said.
Clr Jacques Meiring (Ward 27), who attended the meeting, told the audience the first priorities are the dams, boreholes, sterilisations and irrigation, then the greening of the park can begin.
Metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe said, on July 27, that R7-million is available over the next two financial years.
He said some of the upgrading will include:
•Additional animal shelters
•Irrigation system
•Planting of pastures
•More walkways
•Playground areas
•Braai/picnic areas
•Cleaning of the dams/ponds
Also read:
Small peek into Bunny Park’s beauty
Sterilisations begin at Bunny Park
SPCA receives welcome donation
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