Park saga divides community

LITTLE FALLS – Emotions reached boiling point on 21 February at a Little Falls community meeting held to discuss access control to the local Lakes Park.

Concerned residents flocked into a conference room at Eagle View Guesthouse to argue, discuss and find solutions to resolve the access issue causing a brouhaha in the neighbourhood.

Some residents felt they were being punished by certain people who controlled the access key by keeping the park closed during the week and only opening it on Sundays.

The park, which has an attractive lake and an area for children to play, was fenced by the community following security concerns and then the Little Falls Strubens Valley Residential Community (Lifco) became involved in creating easy accessibility.

The fencing then caused a restriction for some residents who were unable or reluctant to approach the key controller to make use of the park.

Families use the park to walk their dogs and take their children out for picnics.

Former DA committee member, Judy van Niekerk argued in the meeting that it was illegal for anyone to prevent access to municipal property.

“You can’t make something private when its public-owned by the municipality. We can’t say because you are poor or you don’t belong to a forum that you can’t enjoy the park.”

Reginald Mazibuko, chairman of Lifco agreed that people must not be selfish with the key because parks belong to everyone.

He acknowledged the fact that safety was a concern and asked for suggestions on how to improve the park’s accessibility while ensuring safety.

Some residents feared that should the parks remain open for 24 hours, criminal activities occurring in other Joburg parks would soon spread to theirs as well.

Golden Harvest Park in Randburg and Rhodes Park, where two couples fell victim to murder and rape, became a point of reference.

Johannesburg City Parks spokesperson, Jenny Moodley said the entity encourages and actively seeks community support in caring for parks and open spaces in the city.

“The bylaws of the City of Joburg stipulate that parks can only be utilised between sunrise and sunset and this is between 6am and 6pm. Partnerships do exist where resident bodies manage access between this period,” she said.

Moodley cautioned that these partnerships, however, cannot encourage exclusivity or limit access between the control hours. She also encouraged the users to be vigilant when using any public space, as the entity cannot provide security personnel at every access point in over 2 000 parks owned by the City.

A short-term solution was that anyone wanting to use the park request the key and a list of key holders to be administered by Lifco, while they plan, as a long-term solution, to take the matter to the council and plead for control of the park.

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