THE FENCING off of Henderson Park may have caused concern with some Birdhaven and Melrose residents, but the ward councillor believes it could be the first step to decreasing the number of homeless people sleeping in parks.
According to Ward 47 councillor Jack Cooper, one of the reasons he supported the fencing off of the public park was because it was not policed and homeless people were often found living in the park.
“The homeless would even have access to the bowling club to get water as the bowling club had also been abandoned,” he said.
Cooper made a comparison to Sandton parks that were completely fenced off, and as a result were “free of vagrants“.
According to City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley, one of the purposes of the fence was to prevent people who drive into the park illegally to sleep there, or commit crime in the park.
Judy Stockhill of the Friends of the Rosebank Library said she was not a fan of fencing parks at all, and that the Library Park in Rosebank was proof that fencing off of parks was not always the solution.
Admire Kamutimbe is part of non-profit organisation, DevelopSA, and works with many homeless people in the Rosebank-Killarney area. Kamutibe said homeless people feel safe in parks and fencing parks off would not deter them from gaining access.
“I think, more especially in the Rosebank area, allowing the homeless to sleep in the parks is better than having them roam around the streets and causing a disturbance in the CBD,” he said.
“There is, on an average, 16 to 22 homeless people finding refuge in the Rosebank Library Park every night. There are organisations and city officials working on finding more permanent solutions for the homeless in the Joburg North area, and I think until then, we should just let them sleep in the parks.”
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