Sharon writes:
I have just read your article [about Thulane Popoyi] with interest, because I lived in the Melville/Auckland Park area all my life, and attended Melville Primary School. Back in the ’70s and ’80s you could walk to school alone, I would go play in Faan Smit Park for hours then walk home on my own. I lived about two and a half km from the Melville swimming pool, I would walk there and back, day in and day out. Melville was like a little village, where The Mixer is now used to be The Scala Movie House. Down 7th Avenue was the grocer man, the pharmacy, the dentist, and other very quaint little shops, it had quite a rustic charm about it that you just cannot buy. Now it’s a very different story the whole of Melville has deteriorated shockingly, it is over-run with pubs, clubs bars and loud music and even louder, intoxicated students.
The cars that have been stolen and the muggings that take place there are a daily occurrence. My family and I saw the writing on the wall many years ago and moved out, and exactly what we feared would happen has, it’s become another cesspit, just like what happened to Rocky Street years back.
So it does not come as any shock that someone was stabbed in a club in Melville. I don’t believe it will be the first or last such incident.
Melville 7th Street is very far from turning into another Rockey Street. It should be understood that this tragic killing took place inside the premises of a very dodgy establishment which the community has been trying to close down for some time. However, this establishment is the exception rather than the rule. 7th Street is no more dangerous than comparable streets in Greenside and Parkhurst. I have been frequenting it for many years and have never ever felt unsafe or threatened.
One should be carefull to tag Melville in this manner, crime happens daily in Johannesburg in much more affluent suburbs – Craig Hall had 2 murders in less than than a month apart. I don’t see people writing doomsday reports about Craighall neither about
Parkhurst where a lady was robbed at gunpoint by allegedly a white motor cycle driver at gunpoint.
Yes its a very tragic incident but don’t blame it on Melville per se.
Thank you for your comments. I would be interested in which suburb you now live in? It sounds like Utopia if it is not faced by the daily challenges of the South Africa we live in.
I have lived in Melville for 15 years and own a business in 7th Street. I have never felt unsafe here. I don’t know of any other suburb in Johannesburg where neighbours actually know each other, where there is a sense of community, where people talk to each other in the street. I walk around Melville during the day and at night – it’s one of the reasons I love the suburb. Nowhere else do I see families walking their dogs every day, stopping along the way to chat. This was a terrible incident in a horrible establishment by obscene people. Most businesses in Melville are compliant with regulations. Most residents and business owners work hard to keep this unique melting pot of cultures alive. Our ward councillor, businesses and residents tried countless times to close Dollar Table but received absolutely no support from the authorities or from the landlord. Unfortunately murders take place all over SA every day. There is more violent crime in places like Sandton and Craighall Park than in Melville. I wonder where the writer lives? In a walled compound surrounded by people like her, who live in fear of anyone not exactly like her? I’m sure there’s crime there too. She obviously hasn’t been to Melville in ages as is evidenced by her reference to The Mixer which was taken over by TV studios about 10 years ago!
Nothing like a bit of misplaced and totally inaccurate schadenfreude. Where the Mixer is now??? Glad you are happy with your choice to move out of Melville, and I wish you well, but please don’t talk about things you clearly know nothing about. Melville is, in fact, a vibrant and lovely community. I’ve been here for 8 years and have loved just about every minute of it. Melville is home to some of SA’s most talented, hospitable and interesting people, and I am privileged to call some of them my friends, and we, collectively, will keep this most special of places going. Not to worry, love. we’re doing just fine without you and your sort.
Although I’ve recently left Melville I feel that your diatribe is wholly inaccurate and smacks of a smugness derived from your decision to leave. It is a conceptual rather than a perceptual observation. Melville has cleaned up its act 8 years ago and is an awesome place to live. A little Village in the middle of Jozi where everybody knows each other by name. 8 years living there were a privilege. It is the place with the least bigotry agains any sort of minority that I’ve ever discovered. Doesn’t matter what colour you are, what your sexual preference is, if you’re nice to the Melville peeps they will be nice to you.
Your hankering for the ‘good old days of Apartheid’ is a clear indicator of your mind set. Perhaps you should consider Fourways or Australia as your next move you will feel more at home there.
Kind regards
Sharon stinks of a 95-year-old ‘when-we’.
Well all whites could walk and play in the streets in the 70’s and 80’s, now couldn’t we? I moved back to Jhb after 21 years away and I really don’t think I would have stayed very long if I didn’t enjoy the vibrancy aakimnd community and quaintness of Melville. I often walk to the Spar as well as regularly eating out on 7th and taking all manner of family and friends there as well. In fact, I don’t know of any other suburb where dogs are walked so often (with kids in tow) and greetings and conversations are had with acquaintances and neighbours in the street. Don’t be so quick to judge, dear lady.
Sharon, you will be shocked of you get here again. It is safe. It is friendly. You can actually walk the the streets. I have been robbed in a quaint village in England. You have no idea what you are talking about. Rockey Street had changed a lot. It is still a fantastic place to visit if you drop you very obvious prejudice.
What an idiotic, poorly written, badly researched researched piece of twaddle.
When was the last time you were actually in Melville (or did you just shit yourself reading about a crime and thanked your Gods that you left the place years ago). I am sure its because of people like you leaving that it is indeed the finest and liveliest suburb in this wonderful city of Joburg. Go (learn to) write about somewhere you really know.