Public spaces must never be for personal use

I have observed with concern a very worrying tendency that is prevalent in many of our townships, where the owner of a yard would usurp a portion of the pavement in front of their yards.

Normally, this tendency is defined as encroachment. There is nothing wrong with exercising encroachment for the general benefits of the residents. However, the behaviour of most township stand owners is that the dispossession of the municipal space is for private and personal usage and gains. Public goods must never be privatised at the cost of individual benefit. Municipalities have reserved that space for a very vital reason. This is where water supply pipes, sewer pipes and electrical wires and poles run. However, residents have decided to cordon and demarcate the space for their own benefit.

Phillimon Mnisi, Joburg