Residents come out in force to Save Our Berea

IT was a show of great community spirit as close to 400 Berea residents and their neighbours from surrounding suburbs packed the St Thomas Church Hall in Musgrave Road in support of the much publicised Save Our Berea monster meeting.

The meeting took on a positive tone as residents were given the floor to raise issues and highlight problems they faced in their respective neighbourhoods and communities.

The atmosphere was one of camaraderie with Cheryl Johnson, one of the founder members of the SOBWC and force behind the media frenzy that has carried the initiative since its inception, addressed those present.

“I have to apologise to you all,” she began, “I have been quoted as saying Berea has no community. We have, through Facebook, created a virtual community, but until now, seeing all of you here tonight, I had no idea we had a real community.”

She went on to explain the aims of the SOBWC, saying that the group’s protests were focused on what it saw as serial mismangment by eThekwini Municipality. “We hope to make a difference by lobbying for change, but we can do this only by standing together as one community and putting pressure on city officials, especially those in Land Use Management.”

“It makes no difference whether you live on the East, West or along the Ridge, Save Our Berea believes the only way to save this unique area is to stand together and say no to crime, vagrancy, beggars, slumlandlords, corrupt building inspectors, illegal businesses and the illegal destruction of heritage homes. Enough is Enough!” she said to thunderous applause.

Guest speakers on the night included Ezio “Buzz” Gori an eco warrior, who gave an interesting insight into permaculture and said what communities could take from permaculture was that they needed to take care of one another and share resources.

Brad Nathanson gave a short talk on crime and encouraged residents to stand together as a community and make their neighbourhoods less attractive to criminal elements. “Look after each other,” he said. “You need to start at the bottom and work up. Get rid of the little crimes, the littering, the vagrancy, beggars and loiterers. Once you have dealt with them, you will see crime stats in your area drop dramatically,” he said. “Show people you are dealing with the little stuff and this will show them the big stuff is not so easy to commit.”

Richard Dobson was next at the podium and gave an enlightening talk on how the city structures operated and how best to deal with the various city departments and their associated silos. “For us to succeed, we need to penetrate these silos. We need structures that can interact within these silos. We need a founding group to start this process with the city and establish area based management at an operational level,” he said.

“I believe this would be the way forward and believe the city would respond well to this,” he said.

Issues raised by residents from the floor dealt with illegal businesses, prostitution, community initiatives and policing forums, ward committee representations, littering, illegal building construction, noise and the associated problems expected to arise with the Back of Port Plan.

Former councillor, George Devenish complimented the organisers for starting the meeting in the right way. “We have to engage with council constructively. We have to be prepared to be involved,” he said.

By the end of the meeting, the Save Our Berea Working Committee achieved what it had hoped for. Overwhelming support and a mandate to take the initiative forward another step.

“We will now go forward and make contact with the city and report back to the community as to what the response has been,” said the Vernon O’Connell who chaired the meeting..