Residents reach agreement with tavern owner
Residents of the South Hills and ward Councillor gathered outside the tavern to get their voices heard.
A UNITED community of South Hills residents and ward 57 DA councillor Faeeza Chame gathered outside a tavern on Saturday, to stress by-laws.
The COURIER team was invited to witness residents who said the Settler Street tavern started out as a very quiet pub that did not bother anyone as it normally closed early around 21:00 (as licensed) and the music did not get too loud. But recently the tavern started attracting boozers who would park their vehicles at the park outside and at the nearby houses to blast loud music and cause a scene, resulting in residents calling Clr Chame, who would normally invite JMPD and SAPS officers to shut down the deviant behaviour. Another recent problem is that the tavern’s entrance was built opposite a public park. Clr Chame had a conversation with the owner, Dan Ngwenya, who initially asked for four months to close the entrance and move it to another side. But Clr Chame argued that four months was too long and she would give Dan two months. The two also agreed, before the concerned residents, that the tavern would be soundproofed and signs would be put outside in the park that people should not come from the tavern to relieve themselves in the public park. Residents said they would be happy if all noisy, intoxicated motorists would be a thing of the past.
“Initially I never had any problem with the tavern but some people started taking their entertainment outside and caused a lot of noise whereby I would wake up and shout at them. Some women and men would urinate in the park, right in front of children who were playing. We have children, we do not want our children seeing such behaviour. At times some guys would spin their vehicles in the park,” said resident, Douglas Mellett.
Residents also acknowledged that ever since Dan opened his business, people have stopped dumping in the park and he had been paying people to cut the grass. The COURIER also witnessed a group of men who came to cut the grass and hope to return to see that things fell into place as agreed.
“I have agreed with the people that should they have any problems, they can come speak to me directly – my door is always open. The only problem I had was people buying alcohol and coming to drink in the park. This includes the youngsters who always bunked school to come and smoke their drugs in the park, even before I opened. Now it looks like these people are my customers. But I will make strict changes as agreed with the councillor,” Dan said.
