For the past years, residents have been disturbed by noise complaints emanating from people making lots of unacceptable noise in the koppies at Luise Street, Gretel Street and Sophie Avenue, Linmeyer.
These complaints are a contravention of the City of Johannesburg laws, which state that the onus is on the JMPD and the Environmental Health Department to deal with these complaints.
For years residents have been logging calls with these departments regarding these issues. As a ward councillor, I have been liaising with both JMPD officers and environmental health officials to resolve these issues.
It concerns me that on September 2, a resident who logged a call with the JMPD was informed by the call centre that ‘it’s the councillor’s job to ‘keep the ward in order and remove the people from the koppie’.
This call centre agent does not know the city’s by-laws or the national legislation, and in fact, should not be working for the JMPD call centre.
The Structures Act states a ward councillor ‘may not interfere in the management or administration of any department of a municipal council unless mandated by council; and give or purport to any instruction to an employee of council except when mandated to do so’.
Ward councillors have the role of oversight to follow up on logged requests.
I have submitted questions to the council regarding these ongoing noise complaints to establish what actions have been taken regarding these complaints. I will also write to the MMC for Public Safety Mgcini Tshwaku, regarding this call centre agent’s response.
Ward 56 councillor, Michael Crichton.
