Whoonga wars : City was warned

KEVIN Dunkley, a member of the Save Our Berea working Committee was not shocked by the violent outburst.

“In our open letter to the Mayor we warned that the whoonga wars had started and could well spiral out of control. Last night we saw the beginnings of that anarchy.”

Dunkley said although there had been no tally of deaths after the attack, there was an abundance of serious injuries.

“This cannot be allowed to continue. A mayoral spokesman said there would be a response to our open letter. To date nothing. By the time it comes it will be too late. We don’t expect any words of wisdom I am afraid, and the likely response will be one of denial, buck-passing and shooting the messengers. This is serious stuff that the mayor of Durban can ignore at his peril. We in the city are so used to seeing a lack of activity on a variety of issues but this is one problem that will only get worse. Doing nothing on this issue will lead to death, injury, damage to property and wholesale crime. Nobody wants to hear people saying we told you so, but it is difficult not to go down that route.

Community fears retaliation attacks

The Glenwood community say they live in fear of a retaliation attack. The suburb is situated slap bang in the middle, stuck between Dalton Hostel and the parks which have been taken over by the homeless and whoonga addicts.

“The message from the hostel guys to the vagrants was they are not finished. They will keep coming for them. This cannot go on! The City needs to do something,” said Heather Rorick, chairman of the Bulwer Community Safety Forum.

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR MAYOR, COUNCILLOR JAMES NXUMALO, FROM SAVE OUR BEREA WORKING COMMITTEE

We are writing an open letter to you because we believe that Durban is rapidly moving to the edge of the precipice. We also write to you because w…e believe that you are a decent and sincere man. Our concern is that the whoonga wars have started and you, the city council and your officials seem oblivious to the severity of the problem. We started a community activist organisation, called Save Our Berea, which has now been going for just over nine months. Our pledge was to be non-political, non-racial and free of any religious prejudice. We also pledged to acknowledge the good achieved in our city and not just become of group of whingers. This we have done. We also said we want to work with the city, but that is proving impossible because of arrogance and ineptitude on behalf of some officials.

Durban has a myriad of problems that we have been addressing but we will raise just one. And that is the infiltration of whoonga addicts into our residential areas. A lot of publicity was given to your visit to Whoonga Park and the establishment of a task team. Unless they are operating under-cover then it appears nothing is happening. At the time of your visit, Metro Police spokesman, S’bonela Mchunu was quoted as saying that the park was no longer a “law enforcement issue”. Is he for real? Sir, do you agree with him? Here are 500+ people living on the railway tracks who are taking the most addictive drug you can find and this is not a law enforcement issue? If you visit court D at the Durban Magistrates every day you will see people of all races being convicted and even jailed for drug possession. All drug use has an underlying social problem but why the distinction between the two scenarios?

And do you really believe that these addicts stay in the ‘park’ all day and night. No, they come out of there and commit 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 banged by people who are doing all this in contravention of the law. Sir, a member of our committee was threatened with death by such a person for ignoring him. Woman driving alone are being targeted by these individuals. Where do these vagrants go to the toilet? On the street, that is where. How would you or your council like to pick your way through human excrement outside City Hall or worse outside your homes? Why do we have to put up with it? This not an exaggeration, we have the photos to prove it. It looks seriously like you have lost control over the Metro Police force. Why are they not enforcing the serial breaking of the by-laws? All this smacks of total arrogance and a total lack of empathy with your citizens who contribute millions in rates alone.

And 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.

You find it acceptable that you and any local politician that has received threats should enjoy the luxury of security that is costing us millions. Yet the rest of us must live in an environment where the most basic activities can lead to death, rape, serious injury and even mutilation. A homeless woman, Wendy, is murdered, raped and mutilated on a grassy patch of ground on the Berea. There is no part of that grassy patch that is more than 30 meters from two busy roads. How does this happen? A resident of Glenwood who goes out to fetch her pets that have escaped from her property is set upon, brutally raped and mutilated. A man walking his dog on a busy road in Westville is stabbed to death. 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? Would it take the murder or rape of one of your executive to wake everybody up? Heaven forbid that should happen, but that is the risk your citizens face every day.

You and your City Manager are both on record as declaring that you want to make Durban a world class city. We talk about bidding for the Olympics. We on Save Our Berea are loyal Durbanites and South Africans and are known as positive people that will defend their city and the country we love. But Sir, those goals are a joke. We need action. People are getting angry, very angry.

On Thursday you had the first full meeting of your council, since the elections, at Hammarsdale. You speed through an agenda where most who attend rubber stamp decisions already made outside that chamber. Was there any report back from your whoonga task team? Of course not! Was there any discussion about the murder and rapes that I refer to and a plan of action? No!

Sir, you 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. It is interesting that our President, Jacob Zuma, has seen fit to appoint one of his most talented ministers, 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 etc. it encompasses all services which also includes our safety. We are afraid that Ethekwini is failing us big time.

You have the burden of that leadership and it is time for you to stand together with us, your constituents, and take action. Those people from 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.

Save Our Berea Working Committee.