Who is the ‘Cabbage Bandit’?
THE so-called Cabbage Bandit – Tshwane resident Djo Nkuna – this week became an instant hero for his defiance after police fined him for planting vegetables in front of his house.
BaNkuna wrote on Facebook that Tshwane Metro Police officers threatened him with arrest for the vegetable garden in front of his Theresa Park property in Pretoria North.
The metro police have since given him a R1 500 fine after he refused to remove the garden.
For most of the week, sympathisers accused the metro police of being harsh and unreasonable in dealing with the matter.
The “Cabbage Bandit”is a 47-yearold businessman born and raised in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
He has a Master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Sussex in England. He also studied political science at the University of Witwatersrand and did management courses at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
He said he created the garden to assist his social worker wife so she could provide food for impoverished people.
He started growing the vegetables three years ago and planted food.
Nkuna has received overwhelming support, especially on social media.
A page was created by gardeners on Facebook called Djo BaNkuna Support Group, which now has just over 2 500 members rallying behind the “urban farmer”.
Nkuna also has a home music studio where he offers lessons to children as young as 10 for free.
“I dedicate at least five hours of my time on Saturdays teaching children how to write songs and use studio equipment, among other things.”
He is expected to appear before the Wonderboom Municipal Court on November 23 for his refusal to pay the fine.
Tshwane Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said: “We do not discriminate in the enforcement of law. We seek to enforce all laws equally in the city and ensure that when complaints are received, we respond to them.”
He said on September 9, a complaint was received about the use of a road reserve. Nkuna was issued a verbal warning and told to comply with the use of road reserves regulations. He did not comply, said Mahamba.
Subsequently, he was issued with a fine of R1 500, in terms of the Road Traffic Act 96 of 1996, as he was obstructing a sidewalk and space reserved for pedestrians.
“This was national legislation which regulates what is allowed on a public road reserve. It is further supported by the by-law on City Amenities,” he said.
“Mr Nkuna does not own this land and cannot merely decide to use it for agricultural purposes. It is public land which needs to be accessed by all residents in the area, their rights must be protected.
“We have engaged with Mr Nkuna to highlight exactly why his actions are problematic. What is further alarming is that on his public Facebook posts he has openly bragged about grabbing land.
“This is deeply alarming because the City of Tshwane is actively trying to combat land invasions which violates the rights of citizens.”
Mahamba said BaNkuna also told the media that he donated his produce, yet his social media activity indicated he sold this produce as well.
“When any member of the public is issued with a section 56 it has a due date that he/she is expected to pay the fine by and those dates are provided by the courts.
“In Mr Nkuna’s case, his due date to pay that fine is in October and if he fails to pay within the prescribed period there is a date that he can appear in court to dispute the fine which would be later in November.”
Mahamba added the City also had a formal adopt-a-spot policy which residents who wished to beautify public spaces could use.
“Mr Nkuna has not attempted to engage on this policy.”
HE gave himself the moniker “The Cabbage Bandit” and now Joe “Djo” Nkuna is going to court to contest a fine issued by the Tshwane Metro Police for his roadside vegetable patch.
Nkuna has described on social media how he “has become a criminal”, was fined R1 500 and told to get rid of the cabbages, pumpkins and other vegetables growing on the corner outside his property in the Pretoria suburb of Theresa Park.
“Let the court decide; maybe we can change this apartheid law,” he said with reference to by-laws which allow the planting of grass on the city’s verges, but not veggies.
Nkuna said he started his vegetable patch in 2019 to support his wife’s charity work in Soshanguve, and he also planted mealies, pumpkin, sweet potato and other crops at a nearby park to meet demand.
A city official has been quoted as saying Nkuna’s motives are not as pure as he makes them out to be – implying he may be involved in land grabbing and selling vegetables for profit.
Be that as it may, he appears courteous to the Metro police who issued him with the fine, and he has received widespread support with some on social media agreeing that by-laws are antiquated and that vegetable gardens that provide food for the hungry should be widely adopted.
Tshwane MMC for community safety Karen Meyer confirmed that a complaint about Nkuna’s vegetable garden – which spans the entire sidewalk – was received and investigated. She said in terms of the city’s by-laws, the road reserve belongs to the municipality, and permission was required before one could make changes to it.
Nkuna is not the first to make such a garden: people around the country turned areas outside their homes into community vegetable patches early in the pandemic.
We welcome the matter going to court as this should provide a case study on how by-laws may be reconsidered to allow this type of endeavour in a well-managed manner.