“It looks untidy and is not very safe as we can’t see what is happening in the empty house across the street,” says Corney.
Corney who lives opposite the vacant house looks right into the soil pile when he leaves his driveway and feels that intruders might hide behind the soil to monitor the activity of residents.
The nursery has been on Main Reef Road for about 20 years but Corney has grown increasingly concerned since the new owners took over six months ago.
“There is a tractor that mixes soil daily on the pavement and it is very noisy and disturbs the peace in our neighbourhood,” says Corney.
He also feels that the nursery should not be using the pavement in front of the vacant house, as it is Ekurhuleni Metro’s land he says.
Alta Gobey, who bought the nursery about six months ago, insists that servitude was granted by the metro in order for the nursery to use the vacant land.
Alta says that they are in the process of buying the vacant house so that they can put the soil on the property once the house has been demolished but the procedure is just taking longer than they had hoped.
“The old house which currently has vagrants living in it will be where we put the soil but there is a long procedure to follow,” says Alta.
The owners of the nursery deny any wrongdoing and do not believe that the nursery is causing any disturbance.
The metro is yet to comment regarding the nursery and whether permission was granted to leave the soil on the pavement.
