Linden Bowling Club has had enough of Emma Park dumping

LINDEN – Residents raise concerns about the state of Emma Park.

February 10, 2018

Roxy de Villiers 2 minutes read

A site where plastic was previously burned.

The Linden Bowling Club is home to pristine lawns, a well-maintained building and prestigious bowling competitions – all with a view of a heritage site that has turned into a dump.

The Northcliff Melville Times visited the club upon request of the club chairperson, Marc Haley, who is at his wits’ end with the state of the club’s neighbouring park.

Emma Park is divided into two sections – a public park mostly for children, and a nature reserve-type heritage site, home to the Johanna van der Merwe monument.

Both receive regular visits from recyclers, however, with regard to the heritage site section, some reclaimers never really leave.

The Northcliff Melville Times found a homeless man sleeping under plastic sheets at the heritage site section of Emma Park.

At the top entrance of the heritage site, is a sea of discarded and burned reclaimed materials, as well as a make-shift camp some recyclers live in. When the Northcliff Melville Times visited the site, a man was found sleeping under large plastic sheets.

Haley said the situation is not a new one, however, it has become significantly worse.

“Look, this issue the previous chairman fought but it was never like this – people weren’t living here then,” he said.

Haley explained that he reached out to City Parks as well as to the area’s councillor. The councillor, Nicole van Dyk, subsequently organised a cleanup of the site.

“It’s gotten to a point where cleanups just don’t work because they just come back and dump and burn rubbish again.

This issue needs to be addressed and maybe it should be handled the way the Melville Koppies were handled. The Koppies got heritage status and are now gated and preserved,” he said in exasperation.

Linden Bowling Club chairperson, Marc Haley, says he wants to see the issue resolved while he is still chairman.

Haley is not the only member of the club who has come forward with complaints about the site, two other club members did their fair share of complaining to the City of Johannesburg.

One complained specifically about the regular fires burning reclaimable materials in fear of her health being jeopardised as she has Parkinson’s Disease and does not want to take any chances with her health.

The other, Peter Lopes, argued that the eyesore is such a contrast to the prestigious national and international events held at the club and should be addressed.

Recyclers on the children-friendly side of Emma Park.

A chair reclaimers use in their make-shift and unsafe home on the heritage site section of Emma Park.

The Northcliff Melville Times contacted the office of the mayor to find out which the relevant department would be to comment on the matter, as well as Van Dyk on her involvement in attempting to resolve the situation. We are awaiting comment on the matter.