Florida community members joined a community march on 23 February, to show their
dissatisfaction with how things are being done in their area.
The march started at about 10 am, when between 150 and 200 community members gathered at the M.O.T.H. Hall in Florida with their posters displaying slogans like ‘Enough is Enough’ and ‘The community of Florida is gatvol’.
Luqmaan Rahim, community spokesperson and member of the ICE Community Policing, said, “The community of Florida has spoken. Stern warnings have been issued to all drug dealers operating within the area, to nightclubs that disturb the peace throughout the night, to scrapyards that buy stolen goods and contribute to the mess the scrap collectors have been making in the area, as well as to corrupt police officials.”
He added that a request has also been put in for better service delivery to rate-paying residents.
“Florida has been highlighted as the hub of many different criminal operations and drug dealers interlinked to other surrounding areas, and the community has decided that they will not accept this any longer,” said Rahim.
He explained that the initiative started with small clean-up operations that were held over a few weeks by community members, “This is when they realised how serious the problems actually are. They then decided to come together on a larger scale and fight back. The purpose of this initiative is to rid the area of all the drug activity that plagues the community, to make Florida a safe and pleasant area to live in, to uplift the area’s decaying state and to bring back value to properties owned by the community. The Florida residents have called on all law enforcement agencies, various government departments, local businesses and different organisations to join them in taking back the area. Enough is enough! Together we can!” he said.
He concluded by thanking everyone who contributed to the day’s success. “We want to thank the Ward 70 councillor Caleb Finn, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), Police, APCAN Armed Response, Discovery Blockwatch, and ICE Community Policing for supporting the clean-up initiative and for attending the march.”
