Walk on the wild side in trendy Melville
● The trendy Johannesburg suburb of Melville has become the centre of a heated pavement war.
A restaurant owner in the area — which was recently named one of the top 10 coolest suburbs in the world — appeared in court this week alongside a member of the public after the two got into a scuffle over the blocking off of pavements with chairs and tables, forcing people to walk in the street.
The case has highlighted a problem experienced throughout the city, with vehicle owners, businesses and vendors topping the list of offenders, said Superintendent Wayne Minnaar of the Johannesburg metro police.
Diaan van der Westhuizen, who lectures in urban design at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning and lives in the area, was on his way home from lunch in Melville last month when he noticed how local restaurant and hookah café the IT Corner had blocked off a large part of the pavement.
A series of planters, chain rope and tables had taken up the entire pavement. With dozens of cars parked directly next to the pavement, pedestrians were forced to walk in the middle of the street.
Van der Westhuizen, who is familiar with the bylaws involving pavement access due to his profession, was concerned that this was a potential hazard for pedestrians and that people with disabilities would have yet another avenue blocked off for them.
“If you don’t have space on the pavement, and people have parked right next to it, you have to walk in the most dangerous part of the road,” he told the Sunday Times.
But he said owner Kader Bouredji, who was seated at a table on the blocked pavement, immediately “became aggressive and threatening” when he approached to complain. When he explained that hogging the pavement was breaking city bylaws, Van der Westhuizen alleged that Bouredji swore at him and began to rush towards him “to try
If you don’t have space on the pavement, and people have parked right next to it, you have to walk in the most dangerous part of the road
Professor Diaan van der Westhuizen
Lecturer in urban design at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning
and chase [him] away”.
The professor took out his cellphone to try to record the aggression but Bouredji and another person seated with him allegedly grabbed him and threw him to the ground, knocking off his glasses and taking his cellphone to delete the video.
He got his phone back after a passer-by offered to contact the police.
Van der Westhuizen opened a charge of common assault, and the pair appeared last week in the Newlands magistrate’s court. After they met with the prosecutor, Van der Westhuizen agreed to drop the charge on condition that Bouredji apologise, pay for the damage to his spectacles, and commit to fixing the pavement infringement outside his establishment.
Bouredji told the Sunday Times he agreed to all of these conditions, but denied the assault. “I am not a violent person. As a business owner, why would I become violent with customers?”
However, he admitted there had been a “misunderstanding” between them, and he hoped to resolve their differences in a fol By low-up meeting. Bouredji said he had blocked off the pavement with the chain rope as a safety measure after a series of phone-snatching incidents at his restaurant.
He said there were always staff on hand to ensure that if a disabled person or a pedestrian needed to come through the restaurant, the chain, which was easily removable, could be shifted to allow access.
Pavement access is a source of numerous complaints in the surrounding areas, said ward councillor Bridget Steer, who is dealing with at least four cases. She said she had previously met business owners on Melville’s restaurant strip to tell them they needed to apply for licences known as “way leaves” to allow them to move their operations onto part of the pavement.
However, she said, even if they were granted way leaves, they still needed to allow at least 1.5m of pavement for pedestrians to pass. Steer said the proposed Melville precinct plan was set to try to deal with the vast number of cars parking in the area, to give more space to pedestrians and to resolve traffic congestion.