Parks pay high price for homelessness

SOCIAL challenges at local parks and green spaces was one of the topics under discussion at the Parks Summit at Durban Botanic Gardens last Thursday.

Speaking at the gathering of Parks officials, other stakeholders and the community, the head of Parks, Recreation and Culture (PRC), Thembinkosi Ngcobo, spoke about problems at local green spaces in the city, which he said were out of the department's control.

“Problems exist and operate within the social structure such as homelessness, where people have found sanctuary in our open green spaces. It happens mostly in parks where every space in the parks is used for ablutions, where they engage in sex in broad daylight and where drug abuse is rife. There has been an increase in crime related to this. The problem is that these people have chased families away from open spaces – there are not enough spaces for families to go to have picnics and for children to play. We encourage help from organisations in the community as we cannot do this alone,” he said.

Hazel Jali mentioned the high price of vandalism and theft of infrastructure at parks in eThekwini, quoting the staggering insurance claim figure for the 2015/2016 financial year of R21 975 418,20. She said the replacement value of PRC assets stands at R5 billion, which the department would need in hand if it had to replace assets.

“We are battling because of vandalism and theft in our parks. The Department needs to ensure facilities are safeguarded, but are failing because of theft and vandalism. We need to ensure our assets are maintained and protected and we as a community, as ratepayers and stakeholders, need to come up with a solution to eradicate the problem of vandalism,” said Jali.

She said the asset lifecycle of buildings in parks should be 80 years, outdoor gyms should be five years and playground equipment should be 10 years, but vandalism has had a negative affect on this. She said vandalism included arson, particularly in buildings, burglaries, thoroughfares cutting through parks and sports grounds, cutting of steel pipes and theft of electrical wiring, theft and vandalism of fencing and access gates and theft of steel on swings and slides.

“Deterioration of assets because of vandalism and theft means assets don't reach their useful life,” she said.

Zoleka Gqada spoke about seeking solutions for this social challenge, using Congella Park as a case study. She said the department had identified challenges facing parks, looking at Congella Park and others in eThekwini. She said social problems such as migration, a high rate of unemployment and drug abuse, are a great contribution to poor maintenance of parks and affect tourist attraction icons.

“More people are moving to the CBD to find work, and as they have no place to live, they are invading parks, which brings issues of vandalism of facilities in the parks, lighting fires, illegal dumping and cutting down trees. This also brings with it a problem of drug dealers who are trafficking in parks and prostitution, where women are using vandalised buildings for sexual activities with their clients, and therefore parks are not serving the purpose they are meant for,” she said.

Gqada said out of the 272 parks in eThekwini, 21 were vandalised, 12 were dens for drugs and prostitution and 38 were used for illegal dumping.

“The impact of social challenges include vandalism of infrastructure including copper theft, scrap metal and taps, and the natural water streams, such as in Congella Park, are used for bathing, ablutions and cardboard selling. Illegal dumping is a health hazard for park users and staff. This also affects service delivery, as staff spend valuable time removing rubbish,” she said.

She said interventions were in place to deal with the problem. Metro police, SAPS and safety officers were working together to enforce the laws, and partnerships were in place with local businesses such as Atlas Scrap, who have been involved with clean-ups at Congella Park.

“In 2014, the Qalakabusha Programme was established to address social ills at Albert Park. It was a successful programme, but the homeless people moved up to Congella Park. We need to educate the community, schools and the homeless on how to keep our open spaces clean. We need a collaboration approach with all departments and stakeholders working together to develop strategic plans for the betterment of our environment,” she said.

Garth Kloppenborg from Parks said the department could easily ignore the social issue as it was not part of the 'departmental DNA', however the department needed to address it as it had an impact on the parks.

“We need to take our parks back and find a solution, and to do this, we need community participation,” he said.