Baxter Park to be sex workers’ haven

IN an unprecedented move to clean up the city, eThekwini Municipality has sold Baxter Park, a contentious green space in the heart of Glenwood, to a Nigerian businessman who has plans to develop the park into a safe centre for sex workers, vagrants and street children.

To facilitate the new development, eThekwini Municipality has announced an Urban Improvement Plan is on the cards for homeowners in Glenwood, Umbilo and surrounds who will be required to contribute an extra R200 each month on their rates bill for the additional infrastructure and services to make the Baxter Park Centre a reality.

The sale of Baxter Park has come as a shock to local residents who have held vigils and protests around the park in recent months in attempts to force the city to take action against the plethora of vagrants and sex workers who use the park.

A spokesperson for eThekwini who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, told Berea Mail the businessman approached the City Manager with an offer to purchase Baxter Park for R1.2-million. He said the man, Mr Saloof d’Lirpa, is a well-known businessman and philanthropist in Nigeria and is well connected to key political figures in South Africa.

His plan is to develop the park into a centre where sex workers, vagrants and streetchildren can operate without harassment or fear. He said D’Lirpa had already ordered a consignment of empty containers which are to be converted into private cubicles and placed in the park for the use of sex workers.  Social workers and drug counsellors will also be in attendance at the centre day and night and a community soup kitchen  will feed the hungry and destitute two meals a day. The centre will also boast a creche and play area for children of sex workers and other youth.

A secure parking area will also be developed where clients can park their vehicles safely while visiting at the centre.

Local taxi associations have been approached to run what amounts to a shuttle service between Baxter Park, neighbouring suburbs and the harbour to ferry sex workers to and from the area at stipulated times throughout the day and night.

The spokesman said the city had welcomed the plans for Baxter Park as they were in line with its Clean My City campaign.

He said D’Lirpa  and the city management were also looking at other parks in the Berea area where similar projects could be established. “It will go a long way in utilising the parks in a controlled and structured manner, and is of benefit to both local residents and sex workers and vagrants who are often bullied and harassed,” he said.  The Department of Social Services and the SAPS had also given the project their approval.

In the meantime, appeals are being made to local residents to donate food, clothing, bedding and blankets for use at the centre. “This is an ideal community project that everyone can get involved in,” said D’Lirpa, adding that similar centres were very successful in Nigeria.