Vagrants on West Avenue in Ferndale have gotten worse and residents fear for their safety.
A resident from West Avenue who asked to stay anonymous said that 20 to 30 vagrants gather close to Oxford Street on the pavement, they drink all day, pass out on the pavement and some are scantily dressed with their private parts hanging out. “They fight often to the extent that they break bottles and stab each other with the bottles, they shout and scream all day and I can hear them from my bedroom,” said the resident. They also smoke cannabis openly and they sell junk on the pavement.
The electrical box that sits on the resident’s pavement had the cables stolen last year and the complex did not have electricity for about six months. The municipality provided a generator that was running 24 hours on the pavement for the complex. Once the cables were replaced; the generator was taken away and the fence around the box was locked. The vagrants broke off the lock and used the space as a toilet. “They defecate and urinate in this space, to the extent that if you drive past, you can see them sitting doing their business,” said the resident.
The resident said that the filth and smell comes through the bathroom windows and that when they hang their washing, they can hear these people defecating. The police were called twice on 13 February and the vagrants scattered, as soon as the police left they came back. “I am concerned about the disease that may come from this filth as well as our own safety,” said the resident.
Randburg Police Station spokesperson Constable Stanley Bopape said, “We know about the problem, it is a bylaw issue and JMPD has been contacted.” The police will address the matter accordingly.
Ward 104 councillor Mike Wood said that he is aware of the situation and he has contacted JMPD to assist with the vagrants as well as the illegal panel beating business they conduct on the pavement. “They work there and even spray paint cars there which results in residents not being able to use the pavement,” said Wood.
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