WEB AND PRINT:
Florida Lake — Criminal cases of assault and theft were filed after things were stolen and a fight broke out at an unauthorised, chaotic party at Florida Lake.
Resident PJ Soine paints a colourful picture of chaos and lawlessness at the lake on Saturday 4 October. Soine says as many as 50 taxis were parked on the grounds that day with the drivers and passengers socialising on the lawn.
“It happens often enough and the place regularly is in a terrible state,” Soine says, adding that groups of people visit and have picnics and parties, but they leave behind beer bottles and other litter strewn across the grounds. “Nobody cleans it up.”
Caleb Finn of Florida Block Watch confirms that more than 100 people descended on Florida Lake that Saturday. Although the lake is a popular venue the chaos was exceptional. Teenagers were drunk and took to the road, endangering themselves and others.
“Police was called to the scene but I do not know what transpired there,” Finn says, adding he wouldn't go to the lake alone over a weekend.
“However, it was even worse a few years ago. I've contacted DA councillor Dave Dewes and Florida Police Station commander Cassie Rautenbach, but received no response from them or any indication as to what will be done about the litter or lawlessness at the lake.”
Questions about regular clean-ups at the park were posed to Jenny Moodley, Johannesburg City Parks spokesperson. She committed to responding to an email from the record, which included photographic evidence, but said law enforcement is not up to City Parks.
“We have a dedicated litter-picking team that works in the mornings and afternoons to keep the parks clean,” said Moodley, adding that the park should be clean on a Saturday afternoon. However she did not explain why it was not the case on that particular day.
“We depend on Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) to enforce the by-laws.”
After trying to deny accountability and shifting responsibility onto Pikitup and City Parks, JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar eventually admitted that it is JMPD's responsibility to enforce by-laws. Fines of up to R1 500 can be racked up for littering, Minnaar said. Littering is categorised by degrees – small litter such as bottles, paper and plastic could mean a R500 fine while larger rubble, dirt or plastic bags could mean a fine of R1 000. Dumping building rubble is considered more serious and offenders are fined R1 500.
“There should be more rubbish bins in the park to ensure that rubbish is disposed of efficiently,” Minnaar said.
He said JMPD will patrol Florida Lake once the issues are brought to the attention of the by-law management director Sam Sethagu. The record contacted Sethagu via email and is awaiting response.
Finn contradicted Minnaar's statements to the record, saying that in fact the JMPD and City Parks coalesced to form the City Parks Rangers, whose headquarters are at Florida Lake.
“They are right there but as far as we could see they did nothing to calm the situation or enforce the law.”
Dewes says local government and City Parks do very little at Florida Lake.
“At the moment just about everything goes,” Dewes says, adding that the reality of restoring Florida Lake is complex.
When probed about his personal passion and plans to transform Florida Lake, Dewes says it is a separate issue he has been fighting for for over 30 years, and that things are being put in place as we speak.
“Unfortunately the information I received is after the fact. The simple truth is that City Parks will have to manage Florida Lake better.”
Florida Police Station commander Cassie Rautenbach was very frustrated when he heard about the unruly party. Officers were busy with other operations and had to be withdrawn to deal with the chaos at the lake.
Rautenbach says he himself is investigating the matter and is in the process of tracking down the organiser of the party since it was neither authorised nor cleared with the police. He says the party was organised by people outside of the Florida area and didn't involve residents. Arrests have been made in connection with the illegal party.
