Stay and fix your neighbourhood

ESTABLISHED resident of Kenilworth and former JMPD officer, Freddy Manganyi (66), cannot stomach the thought of his neighbours leaving the South due to its unruly nature.

Freddy, who has lived in the South for 20 years, has gained a reputation as the ‘go-to-person’ among his neighbours in Kenilworth. So he invited the COURIER to his house after convincing his neighbour not to sell his home due to other unruly neighbours – but rather to do something about the challenges.

Freddy explained that Kenilworth has had a problem of street vendors illegally dumping rubbish and blocking pavements, forcing pedestrians to walk in the roads.

“Besides that problem, we had a man who was fixing trucks and spilling oil here in Church Street. My neighbour eventually decided to erect a sign to sell his house and go start another mortgage elsewhere. That did not sit well with me. I approached the mechanic and told him that we are investing here and he needed to take note of our interests as his neighbours and the problem is now solved.

“I am popular here because I had been living here since 1997 and also because of my previous job. I know a lot of people from different departments in Johannesburg and I make calls when I see people not following by-laws and [making] the whole neighbourhood unneighbourly.

“I often go to these street vendors and make them clean up after themselves when they have littered in the streets. I am not afraid to talk to anyone. I lost that fear many years ago when I was stabbed in the shoulder while on duty, shot with an AK-47 close to the spine and also with a firearm on my hand,” explained Freddy.

Freddy also explained that he has invited JMPD officers to come and have a look around the place a few times. He wants all residents to live in peace in Kenilworth and abide by the by-laws. They must not, he said, just erect illegal advertising boards all over the streets and do things that make other people hate living in Kenilworth.

“When I moved here in 1997, I was one of the very few black people. Dead cats were thrown in my yard but I stayed and some people left. I have taught plenty of them the township spirit of talking to your neighbour, because we never used to talk. A neighbour would borrow a tool from me and after that we were back minding our own business and not even greeting each other. But today this place is very neighbourly and I want to teach that to other people because you can run to Kibler Park but you will find problems there too. In fact, there are now prostitutes in some Kibler Park areas. It is just better to stay in a problematic area and work together to do something about it,” said the optimistic Freddy.

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