Zoo Lake club to stage protest

PARKWOOD – Zoo Lake Bowling Club management invited residents to a non-violent protest of what was described as the city council’s attempt to “privatise and evict” the club.

The event on 6 October will see people hold hands to form a human chain around the premises.

The club has been at loggerheads with the Johannesburg Property Company since the company informed the club through an eviction notice that it had lost a tender bid for the premises.

Club manager Chris Moffatt said he believed the city council’s actions and intentions contradicted the terms and conditions of the title deed and custodianship ceded to the city council in 1904 by Herman Eckstein, among others, that Zoo Lake remained a public space.

“This space has become a mirror of the non-racial, democratic and just society we want to build and live in. To keep it this way, club members took legal action against the city council, and others lodged a complaint with the Public Protector,” said Moffatt.

“We believe privatisation will make the facility elitist and unaffordable to the majority of our people, which will result in job losses and will kill off the 80-year-old bowling club. This must be stopped.”

Moffatt said the planned event would be a “non-violent response to those in power who seek to profit at the expense” of residents.

The protest event will take place at the club, Prince of Wales Drive, Zoo Lake, at 11am.

Details: 011-646-1131