PIETER D writes:
The article, “Police raid three clubs“, refers.
Big question out of this: who is protecting Rock Paradise?
Hooray for the police and Amanda Green of the CPF for finally taking down The Lodge on Pomona Road after it was opened in 1996 to my irritation and numerous complaints.
Hooray for arresting one person for not having a permit (article does not exactly detail what permit would have been needed). Hooray for having all of their booze and drugs confiscated. Drugs I understand but the article does not make clear if the venue had a valid trading licence and if not, why did it take over 18 years to suddenly find this out?
Rock Paradise is no better and contains a rather large number of bedrooms for no other reason than out and out prostitution. The catch is that this establishment is way more protected and in being so protected, has managed to stifle their competition (The Lodge), albeit subject to an irritating but small fine.
Rock Paradise clearly got away with a small fine as a result of either being tipped off or offering good will at a later stage to the task team. Was Amanda Green present or simply absent minded? The ladies there are for conversation only? All 100 of them?
As for Perry’s, I really do not know but they clearly trade more legally than the other establishments of ill repute. I am sure though that The Lodge and Rock Paradise have been the cause of far more accidents in the past and in the case of Rock Paradise, will continue to create more work for the emergency services.
Perry’s, as I am told, was a pub previously by name of The Gavel. Not much has changed other than the name, the patrons still appear to be the same with the pub following the rules in that they do not have women on the menu (you have to bring your own).
I would imagine that in the whole of Kempton Park there are far worse out there, or the other places raided were just not mentioned.
A proper investigative journalist would have made sense of and reported on all the facts as opposed to seemingly just being fed information to make the police and a CPF look good.
Who is protecting Rock Paradise? They didn’t just mushroom out of nowhere, doing nothing apart from having a ton of female patrons that just talk and occasionally go to sleep without being noticed. They were noticed, it just so happens that whomever noticed them got into bed with them.
Investigate, go deeper and really find out what is going on.
