Mayor must take action, says Save Our Berea

SAVE Our Berea’s open letter to mayor James Nxumalo on Facebook, has had more than 37 000 views, and counting.

The organisation’s Cheryl Johnson, wrote the letter as a way of voicing concerns about what she calls the decline of Durban.

In the letter, Johnson mentions the ‘whoonga wars’ and the fact that the city council and officials seemed oblivious to the severity of the problem.

“Durban has a myriad of problems that we have been addressing but we will raise just one, the infiltration of whoonga addicts into our residential areas. A lot of publicity was given to the mayor’s visit to Whoonga Park and the establishment of a task team. Unless they are operating under-cover then it appears nothing is happening,” she said.

At the time of the mayor’s visit, Metro Police spokesman, S’bonela Mchunu was quoted as saying that the park was no longer a “law enforcement issue”.

Johnson wanted to know if the mayor thought these addicts stayed in the park all day and night or whether he realised they went out and commited crimes to feed their habit.

“Just this week DUT students were in the media saying they are scared to go to lectures because of whoonga muggings. In the past six months we have seen a dramatic increase in the aggression by traffic light beggars and unauthorized car guards. People are being threatened at traffic lights and have their cars bangedon by people who are doing all this in contravention of the law,” said Johnson.

She said vagrants used the road as a toilet, which was something residents had to put up with and that Metro Police were no longer enforcing the ‘serial breaking’ of the by-laws.

“It’s not as though we don’t have compassion for the addicts who find themselves trapped in this hellish situation. Most of our followers express genuine sympathy for their plight but we can no longer afford to ignore the reality, the threat to life and property is too urgent. It is the responsibility of the government to take charge of the vulnerable as well as those presenting a danger to society. It is also the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens,” said Johnson.

She mentioned the brutal murder and rape of a homeless woman on a grassy patch of ground on the Berea, no more than 30 meters from two busy roads, and the incident where a Glenwood resident who went out to fetch her pet that had escaped from her property was brutally raped and mutilated.

“If these incidents happened in New York, a city at least five times bigger than Durban, then the mayor would be in the media showing his disgust and pledging action. But here there is a deafening silence and we are treated with contempt by the use of spokespeople to communicate with us. Spin doctors who weave a story to try and keep us happy. What will it take to get action?” asked Johnson.

Johnson said at the first full meeting of council since the elections, there was no report back from the whoonga task team or any discussion about the murder and rapes that she referred to.

“The mayor cannot be proud of the standard of those meetings. By all accounts the standard of debate is non-existent and has stooped to a level of trading insults in order to score political points. We need inspired leadership and we do not have that. Who will lead us out of the abyss in which we find ourselves? We keep hearing from officials and politicians who are quick to tell us that this or that problem is not within their sphere of control. But, surely somebody needs to be a catalyst in bringing the relevant people together to solve problems, whether it be with SAPS, province or central government,” she said.

Johnson made mention of the fact that President Jacob Zuma had appointed Pravin Gordhan to be the minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in order to sort out the under-performance at local government level and the lack of service delivery.

“Service delivery is not just about providing electricity, water, roads and so on, it encompasses all services which also includes our safety. We are afraid that eThekwini is failing us big time,” she said.

She said the mayor had the burden of that leadership and it was time he stood together with the residents and took action.

“Those people from the city manager down must be told, deliver to the people who pay them or move on. Only then can we even consider the goal of Durban becoming a world-class city,” she said.