Row over curbside vegetable garden continues

The ongoing row between Theresapark’s self-proclaimed “cabbage bandit” and the Tshwane metro police department (TMPD) over his controversial curbside vegetable garden continued on Wednesday.

This as the TMPD said Joe Nkuna did not own the portion of land outside his property where the vegetable garden is located.

“Mr Nkuna does not own this land and cannot merely decide to use it for agricultural purposes. It is public land, which needs to be accessed by all residents in the area. Their rights must [also] be protected,” TMPD spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said.

“TMPD has engaged with Mr Nkuna to highlight why his actions are problematic.”

Mahamba’s remarks came a day after Nkuna was charged with obstruction of a sidewalk reserved for pedestrians and fined R1 500 after he allegedly did not comply with a verbal warning to comply with regulations about the use of road reserves last week.

The vegetables from the garden were used to feed his family, vagrants in the Theresapark area and less fortunate families in the Soshanguve area.

The charge and fine were related to the Road Traffic Act 96 of 1996.

“This national legislation regulates what is allowed on a public road reserve. It is further supported by the by-law on city amenities in section (1)(a)(iii) – interfering in any manner with the property of the municipality,” Mahamba said.

He further said that any member of the public who was issued with a section 56 had a due date by which they were expected to pay the fine.

“In Mr Nkuna’s case, his due date to pay the fine is in October. If he fails to pay within the prescribed period, there is a date he can appear in court to dispute the fine later in November.

Nkuna and the TMPD were expected to face off in court on November 23 after he [Nkuna] on Wednesday morning told Rekord that he would not be paying the fine which was issued to him a day earlier.

“I choose to defend myself in court,” he said.

Nkuna explained he would take the row over his curbside patch to court not only because he could not pay a fine for a “false charge”, but because admitting guilt means missing an opportunity to bring change.

“I was initially willing to pay the fine, but this is now bigger than me,” he said.
Despite vowing to not pay the fine and continue the fight in court, Nkuna said he was still available to resolve the matter out of court.

Earlier in the week, Nkuna also vowed that his curbside garden would be going nowhere until the TMPD could prove which by-law it was that he had contravened.

“I have made it clear that the garden is not going anywhere until I am legally served and until someone shows me which by-law I am contravening,” he said.

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