Abandoned structure attracts vagrants

The abandoned pump house along Ontdekkers Road next to the Florida fire brigade has become a thorn in the side of residents and law enforcement officials.

According to Florida Block Watch (FBW) patroller Casper van der Westhuizen, the building which has been abandoned for years and attracts the wrong element into the neighbourhood.

“As far as we can tell, the building serves no purpose anymore,” says Van der Westhuizen, adding that the famous fountain on the corners of Ontdekkers Road and Golf Club Terrace has its own independent pumping mechanisms situated in a structure attached to the fountain itself.

“All this structure does is attract homeless people as it provides a relatively safe place to sleep.”

The Roodepoort Record has, during a recent operation by Florida CPF, visited the structure, finding it occupied by a gravely injured and ill vagrant. Empty syringes from drug use and alcohol bottles were strewn everywhere.

The man, who was unable to stand, was covered in open sores and had to be transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

Subsequent visits revealed other vagrants sleeping here in between the exposed needles from syringes strewn everywhere.

According to Van der Westhuizen, this is par for the course at the pump house.

“We regularly have to remove people from this structure. The roof is half caved in and conditions there are not safe for people. Almost without exception, we find drugs or signs that they have been using drugs.”

FBW committee member Wim Schönfeldt adds that other items regularly found on vagrants at the pumphouse include makeshift Mandrax pipes, empty zip-lock drug baggies, cables stripped of their copper, stripped printers and other electrical equipment.

“This structure should either be properly secured or dismantled,” says Schönfeldt. “It poses a danger for the people that occupy it, and it poses a danger for residents.”

The Record approached Johannesburg City Parks and Zoos spokesperson Jenny Moodley, who confirmed that the entity is in the process of reinstating the iconic water fountain, which is a historic landmark in the area.

“This will include securing the area to deter any unwanted access.”