Westbury: Underutilised park a breeding ground for illicit activities
It has only been a few months now that the building has been completed and the area has not been utilised as it was intended.
The unveiling of the Westbury Pedestrian bridge on Fuel Road happened just over a year ago, but since then there has only been negative news coming from the area.
The bridge leads into a park in Westbury where children play, too often unsupervised and the youth are either smoking, gambling or drinking alcohol while the children play there.
Another issue in the area is the high robbery rate as people walking between Coronationville and Westbury are mugged.
It has only been a few months now that the building has been completed and the area has not been utilised as it was intended.
“There’s great potential at this park but no one is taking responsibility for it. Children are playing here and are left unattended; one boy fell from the stretch tent as he was playing on the top of it.
“He fell and broke his arm and leg. There is such potential here but I see that it’s just going to go down,” said Phillip Gosani, the chairman of African Youth Development.
Gosani and Ben Swarts would like to host an awareness event at the park in the beginning of September. The day will include a flea market, entertainment, fitness, and fun but they have been struggling to find out who to contact and how to go about hiring the park.
“People can come gym at night, they can do aerobics and starts a flea market, open air churches and a theatre for a stage. Nobody cares, the children are rather playing there, there’s a lot of equipment that can help towards fitness and health,” said Gosani.
Noleen Kennedy said that she runs a non-profit organisation and would like to host events and activities in the park so that the youth can do something constructive and stop the gambling and substance abuse which is happening in the park.
According to Jenny Moodley from City Parks and Zoo, if you would like to host an event there you are to fill out an application form from the events department, fees vary per event.
The City encourages the community to utilise the space but to go through the correct channels.
For more information, visit the City Parks and Zoo Events Department website or contact Mimi and Mosa on 011 712 6600 or email mmasike@jhbcitypark.com
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