Derrick Avenue cleaned up
During the visit, the JMPD brought along an interpreter, Mr Jack Jiang, to help spread the message.
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s (JMPD) education and visibility programme in Cyrildene was widely welcomed.
The campaign was aimed at improving working relationships between the JMPD, business people and the residents of the area. It also focussed on enforcing the city’s bylaws.
On Tuesday, the JMPD was led by its spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Waynne Minaar. The Region F1 Cluster commander, Sergeant Marius Boolsen, distributed documents listing bylaws affecting the area. These were written in Chinese and were distributed to business owners along Derrick Avenue.
Sgt Boolsen said the JMPD wanted to make sure the business owners understand how they are expected to run their business.
During the visit, the JMPD brought along an interpreter, Mr Jack Jiang, to help spread the message.
“We want to erase the stigma that the JMPD is victimising the business owners in the area,” said Sgt Boolsen.
He said there has been a lack of follow ups on bylaw enforcement that led to many contraventions for more than 20 years in the area.
“Businesses on Derrick Avenue have grown from about 60 to 220 in the past 20 years but no infrastructure improvement to go with it,” he said.
He said the infringements include illegal parking, dumping, selling on the pavements and keeping stock outside the shops.
“Vehicles visiting the area have grown with the businesses but parking spaces have not. This led to motorists parking on the shoulder of the road,” he said.
One of the business owners, Mr Peter Chaen, told the JMPD crew that some of the vehicles that were parked in front of the shops did not belong to the shop owners or their customers.
Sgt Boolsen said the JMPD has been monitoring the situation.
“We have noticed vehicles parked on the same spot for more than three hours in a day. That is why we are talking to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to design appropriate parking bays and install parking timers,” he said.
He said the JMPD will facilitate that business owners hire steal bins which the business owners will use for all their waste.
He said the contraventions along Derrick Avenue were forcing pedestrians to walk on the road.
“Sidewalks were hijacked for parking and street trading. The sidewalks are seven meters wide at certain parts. The JRA can use four metres for parallel bays and the remaining three metres can be used for pedestrians,” he said.
Sgt Boolsen said there is a proposal of enforcing a maximum of 90 to 120 minutes parking time.
“Shop owners were ordered to use three metres from the building line for trading and the remaining four meters for pedestrians,” he said.
Sgt Boolsen said the JMPD has been monitoring the area and that it will continue clarifying the bylaws to the residents and business people until yesterday (Monday).
“Since the beginning of the campaign, there has been a huge improvement. The business people are complying now. We are not arresting anyone for now. But as from Monday, yesterday, we will return for prosecution and we will not tolerate any non-compliance,” he said.
The JMPD spokesperson, Chief Supt Minaar, said this is the first phase and that more issues raised by the community regarding bylaw contraventions in the area will be addressed.
The Cleveland Community Police Forum (CCPF) Sector 1 chairperson, Mr Rob Crawford, commended the change.
He said residents of Cyrilden have been raising concerns about the state of Derrick Avenue for some time during the Sector meetings.
“This has been part of the residents’ main complaints. Bylaws have been ignored in this area, leading to it becoming a slum. We hope this will also help attract more visitors to the area and more customers to the businesses. Some people were avoiding the area because of the lack of parking, the smell and the sight but now it is improving,” he said.
