Another Alberton resident frustrated with neighbours’ noisy dogs
It is not a case of dogs barking, they scream as the owners arrive home, as the owners leave home, on weekends, early mornings, during the night, anytime.
The RECORD received a complaint from another resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, following an article published on February 3.
Many of us live in complexes, and some keep dogs enclosed within these often squeezed premises, so it is no surprise that these dogs occasionally bark at the most inconvenient times, disturbing the neighbourhood peace, but what surprises us is the callous unlawful disrespect some residents show by letting dogs free to roam and bark loudly in the complex common areas, at windows and neighbours’ bedrooms, particularly now when some are home in lockdown or sick and resting.
This blunt uncaring behaviour becomes even more striking as we witness residents taking dogs on motorcars slowly driving over common driveways with the motorcar windows open, allowing their dogs to stick the heads outside, barking along the neighbours’ homes’ bedroom windows.
As the City of Ekurhuleni is promulgation the process of by-laws relating to dogs, I want to propose these laws include enforcing fines and penalties for dog owners on the evidence and instance of breaks of the legal natural human right to peace owing to dogs’ excessive barking.
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What we witness is beyond any reasonably acceptable standard. It is not a case of dogs barking, they scream as the owners arrive home, as the owners leave home, on weekends, early mornings, during the night, anytime.
Dog muzzles can circumvent most of these problems, but the owners are the ones that need by-laws corrective redressing. So far there has been no decency, care or respect towards the neighbourhood.
Alberton resident
The RECORD requested comment from EMM and received the following:
The barking of dogs is a disturbing noise and constitutes a public health nuisance under chapter two of the Public Health by-laws and it carries a fine of R1 000 issued under sec 5(1) and or (2).
Therefore, fines are catered for in the current by-laws for such contravention if proven to exist. Such contravention can be reported to the nearest EH offices for investigations and action. Conditions on the use of common property in a residential complex are covered under the body corporate rules for that complex and are enforced by the body corporate and not the municipality.
Issued by EMM spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.
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