AS William Congreve (not Shakespeare) said: ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’
Well, ‘she’ has certainly come back to bite Bevershan Jeewan who dared to take a chainsaw to ‘her’ on the pavement outside his house in Taylor Street two weeks ago.
The iconic umdoni tree is said to be hundreds of years old and is even used in the crest of Scottburgh Primary School.
There was an ugly racial squabble outside the house shortly after the ‘chainsaw massacre’and again last Thursday when a group of about 20 townspeople held a silent vigil around the corner in Galway Road.
They could not get near the house as a largish SAPS contingent warned them to keep their distance. The house was guarded by about six vehicles parked in the driveway.
Uniformed officers also marched up the road five abreast to hand the Mail a letter from Mr Jeewan’s lawyer. They also insisted that our reporter should not take any photographs.
The letter had been sent to the Municipal Manager asking him to refuse permission for the vigil to be held. However, a municipal spokesman said they knew nothing about it.
True to their promise, the protesters were ‘silent’ until a woman friend or relative of Mr Jeewan and her young child drove up, swore and shouted abuse at all and sundry.
Three cases of crimen injuria have been opened against Mr Jeewan and, in turn, he has laid a charge of tresspassing and intimidation against one of the concerned community members.
Several hundred people have signed a petition for the municipality to take legal action. The municipality is currently investigating whether any bylaws have been broken. Meanwhile, experts are to inspect the tree this week to see if it can be saved.
Through his lawyer, Mr Jeewan insisted that: “(He) has at all times acted lawfully and had sought and obtained permission from the Municipality prior to cutting down the tree and has in no way infringed the rights of the protesting residents. The tree itself posed a danger to our client and it was rotting and in danger of falling onto our client’s building.”
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