No peace for Primrose residents

“The residents of Primrose sure as hell didn’t, yet again, have a peaceful weekend.”

This statement was made by resident Marianna Hutton when she commented on her recent experience trying to complain about noise to the EMPD.

“Saturday night, residents were yet again bombarded with the usual loud music from the taverns operating in Makause informal settlement,” she told GCN.

She said she called the EMPD several times to lodge complaints about the noise, first at 21:19.

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“The operator refused to give me a reference number and I was told ‘EMPD does not go into Makause or Marathon as it is too dangerous.’ They then put the phone down.”

Hutton placed a second call at 21.20 and was provided with a reference number.

“They failed to take my details as they usually do. I called back at 21:23 and spoke to a third operator and asked her to check the reference number provided to me. I was told there was no such reference number recorded.

“Not only does the EMPD not take the residents seriously, but it also gives fake reference numbers. The third operator also refused to log my call and give me a reference number as I could not give her a house number but a general location. I then insisted that I will meet EMPD officers on the scene and escort them to the problem tavern.

“Since when is that the duty or responsibility of a resident logging a call to an emergency centre? She then handed the phone to another person who accused the residents of Primrose of making their own rules, sitting in meetings with the EMPD and the call centre not being advised about the proceedings.

“They still refused to give me a reference number as I ‘do not follow procedures’. Residents have reported noise complaints on the number 011 458 0911 for three years. We have always given the closest landmarks and now all of a sudden, the EMPD does not respond to these types of complaints,” said Hutton.

She told the GCN the taverns were still operating after 23:00.

“This after they were still going from the previous night, at 05:18 that morning and despite there being a national curfew,” she said.

She said residents lodged complaints on the Ekurhuleni app and that these complaints were closed immediately.

“It is another useless system with procedures that don’t work. Residents were subjected to Marathon and Makause rocking it away until the early hours of Sunday morning. On September 26, Makause was still going at 00:04 and they were still partying at 05:55, despite the curfew. They were so loud that residents in Sunnyridge could hear them,” said Hutton, who added complaints about noise pollution on October 10 and 17.

“The EMPD is tired of residents reporting these taverns and the call centre is off limits for us now. Where does it leave residents, tax and rate-paying residents?” said Hutton.

The GCN sent requests for comment to the CoE and EMPD and requested a response to Hutton’s concerns by October 29 at 10:00.

At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.

Contact the newsroom by emailing: 
Marietta Lombard (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za,  or (Journalists) Busi Vilakazi busiv@caxton.co.za