About 1700 people have signed a petition against the City selling a piece of public land in Bonteheuwel that residents revamped from a dump into a peace garden.
The Camelia Street plot was sold for R100 000 in an auction at the Hellenic Club in Mouille Point on Tuesday September 17 while Bonteheuwel Walking Ladies (BWL) protested peacefully outside.
BWL chairwoman Soraya Salie said the fitness club had cleaned the plot and established the garden there earlier this year because it had been an illegal dump frequented by drug users.
The group, together with residents and Communitree, planted trees, sunflowers and fynbos on the land as part of the BWL’s project to create peace gardens.
Ms Salie said children visited the peace garden in Camelia Street after school to do their homework and relax.
BWL had first learnt of the City’s plan to auction the land when a sign had been posted there, said Ms Salie.
“We didn’t do it for the City, we did it for our community so that they can stop dumping and doing drugs on the field. It was attracting all the wrong people, and now good people are interested in the work that we have been doing there. We will continue to do the work until the person takes ownership of it,” she said.
The garden had attracted various bird and insect species and was a source of pride for the community, she said.
“I stood with tears in my eyes when I saw the poster. We have invested so much in the land, and no one told us that it had plans to be sold.”
Bonteheuwel ward councillor Angus Mckenzie said the City had given notice of its plan to dispose of the land a year ago, and while the community had ploughed a lot of effort into the site it had still been City-owned land.
“No one had objected to the land being disposed of so we gathered that there was no issue. The community cannot just identify land and do something with it. The City had received numerous requests from people to buy that land.”
Bonteheuwel resident Kathleen Adams said her husband Harold was heartbroken.
“He has put in so much money and effort; for them to sell the land, it is not fair. We revamped that land from rats and mice running into people’s homes to a beautiful garden. He has become so despondent now about this that he refuses to maintain it any further. He is heartsore about this,” she said.