Save Our Berea!

ONCE an upmarket, leafy and attractive suburb, the Berea has now plummeted into an area plagued by vagrants, street children and prostitutes. Buildings, many of which have been declared heritage sites, have been abandoned, totally neglected or renovated without proper plans or authorisation. Illegal businesses have mushroomed and without the necessary planning and infrastructure, invite a whole lot of problems.

Completely fed up with the law not being enforced by those put in position to do just that, local resident and activist Cheryl Johnson decided it was time she did something to save the Berea. Johnson has been fighting a battle with a neighbour who has chopped down old trees, extended his home, which is a heritage site, without proper plans or authorisation and has been running illegal businesses out of his residence. The businesses have put even more strain on the already busy street and have caused noise and unrest. Johnson has also had to contend with vagrants and self-appointed car guards who loiter around her property, leaving a mess in their trail.

While Johnson has reported these matters to the authorities time and again, nothing effectively has been done. She has been told repeatedly that notices had been served on the neighbour, but the illegal activities continue. “I began speaking to people about it and found out that everyone I knew living on the Berea had a story to tell, whether it was about trees being cut down, a building being erected right on the boundary of a property, their home being broken into or a neighbour running an illegal business out of his home,” she said, adding, “for me the tipping point was reading Berea Mail editor, Wanda Daly’s column entitled Berea’s Seven Social Ills, which highlighted the problems facing the area. I felt I had to do something about it.” Together with four other like- mined activists, Johnson formed the Save Our Berea Working Committee (SOBWC). Last week they set up their Facebook page Save Our Berea.

The SOBWC was formed primarily to organise what Johnson calls a monster meeting, to be held at the end of November. The purpose of this public meeting is to give the officials in the department at Land Use Management an opportunity to explain to residents why by-laws are not being enforced. SOBWC will also invite a panel of experts including architects, town planners, heritage architects, green warriors and alternative crime fighters to the meeting to advise and suggest possible solutions. Residents will have the opportunity to voice their concerns. “We want people to come to the meeting and speak up and share the issues they are facing,” said Johnson.

The meeting will be closed with a resolution demanding action. “We believe the first step should be to hold this monster public meeting, mobilise the residents, create unity and send a signal to Land Use Management that we are serious, mean business and want action,” she said.

Raising issues via social networks

The group’s Facebook page has been a great success. Within five days of its launch it had already attracted more than 2,600 viewers and dozens more contributed to it. “It provides an interactive platform for sharing information and issues facing the Berea to be raised, debated and discussed. Our group has opinions about these issues, like prostitution, street children, illegal buildings. We write about them and encourage our supporters to contribute to the debate. ” she explained.

Another feature on the Facebook page that is proving popular is Delight and Outrage. A photograph of a well maintained or restored building on the Berea is highlighted and celebrated, while an adjacent neglected/abandoned/derelict property is criticised. The public is invited to share photographs and stories in this feature. “We want people to participate. We also want to be positive and encourage those who are getting it right,” says Johnson.

“My argument is that the City is entrusted by ratepayers to protect our heritage and environment and enforce the law. They are not doing that. Do we wait until the politically and socially marginalised are integrated into an urban fabric so degraded as to be uninhabitable? The outcomes most visible, such as vandalism, decay and crime, are those that will destroy the city’s built assets. Those who work, live and play on the Berea want the city to react to their requests to them to administer the by-laws, stop illegal building, calm the traffic, prevent the destruction of trees, pavements and public spaces – stop the deterioration resulting from an absence of action.”

“Save Our Berea agrees the suburb needs to evolve and grow to meet the new needs and demands of the community, however, things need to be done properly, plans need to be approved and the law needs to be respected.

SOBWC encourages everyone to come together and get involved to save the Berea. If each person does one small thing, like fixing their front gate or painting their front wall, it will make a difference,” said Johnson add that the thinking behind this is that neglected, run down suburbs attract crime. “Working together as a community, we can fix this, we can turn this around.” she said.

“Many people have asked an obvious question? Why Save Our Berea and not Durban,” says Johnson, “The answer is fairly simple,” fellow activist Kevin Dunkley explains, “We have started this initiative with five activists, all of whom are long term residents of the Berea. It’s our home and we make no excuses for initially tackling the issues that we know best. Of course, being concerned citizens, we are interested in the whole of our city, but we want to see similar localised initiatives in all areas where activists are at grassroots and close to the problems they encounter. Then, as with the Sydenham initiative and the Bulwer Community Safety Forum, we can form alliances and support one another. Let us start a people’s movement that highlights the problems we face, yet at the same time, is positive about Durban.”

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Our-Berea/455958801192424 Follow them on Twitter @saveourberea