Doctors use their own money to make Mayfair’s roads safer after ‘atrocious neglect’

The intersection of Bartlett Road and Queens Street in Mayfair is a mad scramble of taxis, cars and pedestrians all trying to get where they need to be. It is wedged between Brixton Cemetery and an open piece of land.

But it’s also quite dangerous, especially at night. Doctors working at the nearby Garden City Hospital have had their car windows smashed by people living on the open piece of land. Patients are too scared to drive to the hospital because of the lawlessness around the intersection.

The open space on one side of Bartlett Road had been taken over by homeless people who congregated there to receive food from a feeding scheme. They stayed on, turning the space into an informal settlement and a rubbish dump. Community activist Aziz Ally said outside organisations bring food parcels to the open piece of land where sometimes as many as 50 people wait in line for food.

“There is constant feeding at the park, and while feeding homeless people is a good thing, we feel people should do this responsibly. After the food has been handed out, the community is left with the problem of littering and people staying in the park. There are old age homes and orphanages where food is needed,” said Ally.

Dr Genevieve Ephraim was one of the victims of smashed car windows, and she had had enough of it. “There has definitely been a spike in crime over the past year,” she said.

Despite complaints to City authorities, the intersection remained a dangerous place, so Ephraim and her colleagues put their own money towards hiring security staff from a private security firm to clean up the area and provide safe and secure passage to the hospital for doctors and patients.

They managed to raise R150,000, enough to pay for six weeks of security presence. “We will try to continue in our personal capacity for at least one more month,” she said.

“The difference in security, hygiene, general aesthetic and cleanliness around the hospital, businesses and the EP Baumann school is nothing short of remarkable. Patients have commented and all the doctors are elated by the improvement. We feel safer driving into the hospital at night and after hours,” said Ephraim.

Compounding the problem is the general state of Brixton Cemetery where there is no security, walls are broken and people are living inside the grounds. Late on a Friday afternoon the smoke from cooking fires rises all over the cemetery.

“The atrocious neglect of the cemetery has been ongoing for many years; there has been absolutely no maintenance of the boundary well for at least 10 years, which is why this problem of vagrancy has snowballed,” Ephraim said.

City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley says rangers and cleaning teams were deployed at the cemetery but the heavy rain in early May disrupted their activities.

The Bad Boyz security team has been there since April, says manager Dean Govender. There is now a permanent security hut on the open piece of land and 24/7 patrols in the area.

Ally and Ephraim say that Mayfair ward councillor Rickey Nair and the Garden City Hospital management have met the SAPS and the JMPD but were told their hands were tied and that they cannot maintain a 24-hour security presence. They said Nair has been very attentive in expediting the issues faced by the community.

Brixton Community Policing Forum chairperson Raheed Hoosien says that while crime statistics were not released street by street, the Brixton precinct recorded 1,708 reported serious crimes. The main reported categories included aggravated robbery, common robbery, theft out of or from motor vehicles, assault, vehicle theft, residential burglary, malicious damage to property, drug-related crime and driving under the influence.

“The categories that are particularly relevant to the concerns being raised in the area are robberies, theft out of motor vehicles, drug-related activity, intimidation, illegal dumping and general antisocial behaviour. These are the types of issues that tend to increase when open land, cemeteries and poorly managed spaces are left uncontrolled,” he said.

Hoosien said the forum’s concern was not to criminalise homelessness, poverty or informal recycling.

“However, unmanaged spaces do create safety risks. The cemetery and the open land near Bartlett Street have become areas of concern because people are living, gathering and moving through the area without proper management, services, lighting, sanitation or enforcement.

“We would support increased visible patrols, better lighting, regular clean-ups, action against illegal dumping and criminal behaviour, and proper social development intervention for people living on the street. The priority must be to make the area safer, cleaner and better managed for everyone who lives, works, visits or moves through the area.” DM

This story is produced by Our City News, a non-profit newsroom serving the people of Johannesburg.