Less bylaw enforcement due to Lake upgrades
Due to the Zoo Lake upgrade, there has been less Metro police officers manning the lake's surrounds.
This was according to Metro police spokesperson, Wayne Minnaar after Parkwood resident and Zoo Lake user, Les Balkind complained about the recent lack of bylaw enforcement in the area.
Balkind said while taking a walk down the street towards Zoo Lake, he noticed almost every tree in the area showed signs of fires that had been started at the base of the trees.
“I don’t know if these fires are started by vagrants or by people partying there… but if this is allowed to continue, soon there won’t be any trees left… for the rest of us to enjoy on our walks around the lake,” he said.
“It is another flagrant example of Johannesburg municipal bylaws not being enforced.”
Ward 117 councillor, Tim Truluck said one of the biggest problems with bylaw enforcement was that there was very little evidence of it happening and thus users of the park were also unaware of what they were and were not not allowed to do in the area.
“This is all part of the problem of bylaw enforcement, as well as educating the users, of the flagship parks in Joburg,” he said.
Truluck felt there should be park wardens who could advise users to not make fires on the ground or empty their hot coals from a braai at the base of a tree.
“Receptacles for safe depositing of hot ash should be provided and the cool ash can then also be used in the park. With regards to the litter, there should be an evening patrol of City Parks employees at the weekends to clear the bins and depositing the trash in lockable skips,” said Truluck.
“This would prevent vagrants, recyclers and dogs from going through the bins and distributing trash back in the park. The trash could then be recycled on a Monday morning in a much more controlled fashion.”
The ward councillor said these were some of the suggestions he had made over the years, but have yet to be considered by City Parks.
Minnaar said Metro police did intensify bylaw enforcement over weekends and generally when there were more people using the park.
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