Elderly residents at M.O.T.H Cottesloe Home can finally breathe a sigh of relief after overgrown verges and sidewalks along Johannes and Stil Street were cleared, following weeks of mounting concern.

Ward 98 councillor Beverley Jacobs said she was first alerted to the issue on January 23 when the home sent her an email which read: “Please could you ask the council to cut the overgrowth next to Cottesloe Homes. It is dangerous for our residents, as you cannot see oncoming traffic, and for pedestrians walking through it, as thieves can hide in it and attack passersby…Your help will be greatly appreciated.”
On February 12, Jacobs conducted an oversight inspection, where she immediately escalated the matter to the relevant entities. Maintenance of sidewalks and related infrastructure falls under Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), but Jacobs said she received no adequate response or ownership from the entity.

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Understanding the urgency, Jacobs engaged with both JRA and City Parks. “My priority was not bureaucracy; it was resolving the safety risks as quickly as possible,” Jacobs explained.

Although no response was received from JRA, City Parks stepped in and assisted, despite the matter not falling within their formal mandate, said Jacobs. “Their intervention ensured that the area was cleared, visible and significantly safer without further delay.

“This situation highlights systemic coordination, budget and management challenges within municipal structures. When departments operate in silos or fail to respond timeously within their mandates, service delivery suffers. It often requires additional escalation and cross-departmental engagement to resolve matters that should be routine maintenance.”

Alwyn Harding, custodian at the home, described how serious the problem had become before the grass was cut.

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“It was a problem initially because the fact that the grass had grown so long, and it wasn’t safe,” he said. “As people were walking through here, there could have been people hiding inside the grass and the overgrowth. They could jump out and attack them and steal phones and stuff as well.”

Harding said that while incidents of this kind are not common, on two occasions during his four years at the facility, people walking in the area were attacked, and their cellphones were stolen.

With the verges now cleared, Harding expressed gratitude. “We’re very, very thankful that it has been sorted out. I contacted councillor Beverley, and she said to me, not a problem, she’ll get onto it straight away. And it didn’t take that long, and it’s been sorted out.”

JRA responded, stating that the entity’s regional operations department had engaged with JCPZ on the issue.

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