Linden in an uproar over Big Brother noise

About 50 angry residents attended a public meeting at Paputzis, Linden, on 12 May to voice their concerns about problems arising from the Big Brother house.

The restaurant’s owner Ria Slabber called the meeting, which was also attended by Anton Burggraaf, executive producer of Endemol Shine Africa, the reality TV show’s producers, and Leonie Fourie of Red Pepper Pictures, the company hosting the show – next door to the restaurant.

Slabber and several residents began by highlighting their frustrations with the activities of Big Brother. As each speaker concluded, they were applauded by the residents. The concerns included loud music during irregular hours; loud shouting, screaming, and laughing by staff and Big Brother contestants; the back-up generator allegedly running 24-hours per day; lack of parking, severe traffic, and the potential for crime that 200 staff and an increase in strangers bring into the neighbourhood.

“I have run a peaceful restaurant for 18 years and would like to keep doing it,” Slabber said. “It is impossible to do that with what is next to me.”

Musician Chris Chameleon said that he had been living in Linden for 44 years and what makes the suburb nice to live in is that “everyone listens to the rules”.

“I have my interviews here [at Paputzis] and sometimes… we would have to leave because of the noise,” he said.

Burggraaf responded that, “We are fully cognisant of the errors we have made to date… it is not our intention to operate in the business we do without taking these into consideration.” While he spoke the residents murmured among themselves, and now and again objected loudly. Burggraaf said that action had already been taken to reduce noise through moving various activities from the outside area into the house, and to completely sound-proof the ‘arena’ space.

When he said that statistics showed that crime had decreased in the area since Big Brother arrived last year, he was met with loud objections. Burggraaf added that Red Pepper Pictures had “gone to great lengths to free up parking”. He encouraged residents to send their complaints to Red Pepper Pictures.

Fourie said that a solution needed to be reached in which all parties could be satisfied, and endeavoured to personally address the noise issue and future complaints. “We apologise for any inconvenience,” she said. Fourie added that Big Brother Angola would run from 31 May until August, but parking will be less of a concern because contestants will be transported by bus to the premises.

Details: Paputzis 011 782 8416, Red Pepper Pictures info@redpepper.co.za, 011 446 7000.