City to clean up after Mandela

The City of Johannesburg received no response from Mandela following a final seven-day notice that was served.

Ward 73 Councillor Marcelle Ravid said the contractor, City Parks and the health department visited the site to establish how much it would cost to clean up the property. “As far as I know, there has been no communication from the owner of the property,” said Ravid. “There has been no response to any of the notices.”

An inspection was conducted on 19 December by the City of Johannesburg’s health inspectors and Mandela was given a 21-day notice to clean up the property. Ravid said there was no response to that notice either.

The property has apparently been abandoned for at least two years and was in a bad state with weeds growing knee high and overgrown trees. The house was barely visible from the gate due to the overgrowth.

Ravid said she had reported the problem to the City of Johannesburg previously, following numerous complaints by concerned and affected residents.

Neighbours had to put a lock on the front gate to prevent vagrants from invading the property. Ravid said she was not aware of any homeless people living on the property, but it was common for them to invade abandoned properties.

It was unclear why the property had been abandoned and the state of the property was in contravention of the city council’s public health bylaws. North Eastern Tribune contacted Mandela family spokesperson, Thato Mmereki who said he did not speak on behalf of Zindzi.

Abandoned properties are common in Houghton and surrounding suburbs. “There are health and security implications,” said Ravid, “It lowers property values in the area, neighbours complain about rat infestation among many other issues.”

Zindzi is the daughter of the late former state president, Nelson Mandela and his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela.