BID TO END ‘CAR BOOT NIGHTCLUB’

THE SOL Plaatje Municipality yesterday designated “no parking zones” at the Oppenheimer Gardens in Kimberley in an attempt to curb illegal drinking and severe littering by city residents who use the park as “a car boot nightclub”.

Municipal workers were yesterday seen painting red lines on the road and putting up “no stopping” signs in the street in front of the Northern Cape High Court.

The street has become a hot spot for revellers, who can be seen “camping out” with hookah pipes, fold-up chairs, cooler boxes and loud car sound systems on a daily basis.

The situation becomes worse at night and over weekends, with cars and revellers lining the street around the Oppenheimer Gardens on both sides.

Municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said that the revellers had become a nuisance, leaving the park in a dismal state with empty alcohol bottles, litter and even used condoms strewn everywhere.

“The Oppenheimer Gardens is the heart of our city, it is surrounded by the Sol Plaatje University, the Northern Cape High Court, the Northern Cape Theatre, the William Humphreys Art Gallery and the municipal buildings – we can’t allow the area to be disrespected any further, it should be the pride of Kimberley. Our community needs to realise that if we want a world-class city we need to have world-class thinking, not a mentality of destruction and litter,” Matsie said.

He pointed out that between 20 and 40 bags of litter are picked up by municipal workers at the park on a Monday morning, adding that the designation of no stop zones at the park (from 4pm to 8am, Mondays to Sundays) was an attempt to send a message that no further “deviant behaviour” at the park would be tolerated.

“These revellers are becoming a nuisance. They treat the park like a car boot nightclub and can’t clean up after themselves. While there have been numerous pleas to the community to keep the park clean, revellers treat it as a waste disposal site, which has become a nightmare for us,” Matsie said.

He stated that the no stop zones would be patrolled and anyone found to be transgressing would be fined

Matsie added that several arrests for illegal drinking had already been made.

He said that another priority would be the removal an illegal car wash business that had started operating in the street.