Pre-Primary school versus neighbour

The school’s principal and owner, Rosemarie Rogerson said her neighbour, Pinchevsky, of about 24 years has become a nightmare to live next to.

Rogerson said her neighbour plays loud music during school hours on his megaphones that are faced directly towards the school.

“He said he wants this school to close down,” said an emotional Rogerson. “When I ask him about the children’s education, he simply says he does not care, because he did not put them here, I did.”

According to Rogerson, the school has been active for 35 years and her noisy neighbour moved into the area knowing there was a school.

The noise levels of the children started to bother him only in recent years.

“He even went to the authorities and tried to convince them that we were not registered.” However, this attempt was quickly shut down, because the school was fully registered with the relevant authorities,” she said.

Pinchevsky said he had two megaphones faced towards the school in order to drown out the noise made by the pupils of the school. He admitted to having lived next to the school for 22 years without noticing any noise problems.

He had not noticed how loud the pupils of the school became until he went into retirement about a year ago. Pinchevsky, who has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, said the noise levels from the school were so bad that they put his health at risk. “At 6.30am in the morning, the children arrive and they play a siren that wakes me.”

Pinchevsky said he tried to drown out the noise from the pupils by playing what he terms as “masking music”. In addition to the noise, Pinchevsky has raised his concerns about the animals that were kept on the preschool’s property and the addition of a second floor to the property, thus allowing the school to admit more pupils.

“They didn’t get my permission to build the second storey. They said they held a meeting with neighbours, but I have no knowledge of that meeting,” said Pinchevsky.

The issue was also raised with Ward 112 councillor Candice James who referred the matter to the environmental health department.

Jacques Scholtz, manager of the department, said they had received various documents with regards to this case. He said the documents were going to be handed over to the Control Prosecutor Randburg court for further action, should any one of the parties involved transgress the bylaw, Regulation 9 of the Noise Control Regulations of Gauteng 1999 which classifies a noise nuisance as “any sound which disturbs or impairs, or may disturb or impair the convenience or peace of any person”.

When pressed for the department’s stance on the situation, Scholtz said, “Investigations have been done by Danie Geldenhuys of the department. I cannot discuss material which would prejudice court proceedings.”