February 6, 2003
By Sheree Russouw
SPENDING the day at the Johannesburg Botanic Garden, better known to locals as Emmarentia, could cost you in the near future. Plans are under way to charge people an entrance fee to visit one of Johannesburg's most immaculate gardens.
According to City Parks, the agency responsible for Johannesburg's open spaces, the money generated from fees will be pumped into the expansive grounds of this garden, nestled in the suburb of Emmarentia. The parks agency also hopes that the entrance charge will act as a "control mechanism" to deter crime.
"People pay to go to places of Emmarentia's calibre all over the world," says spokesperson Jenny Moodley. "Its gardens have a large plant life and extensive succulent collections like cactus. There is clearly valuable vegetation here that we need to protect."
But you don't have to reach for your wallet yet. Moodley says the fee structure still has to be discussed with the local community to secure its support. "People won't be charged exorbitant fees. We will have discounts for pensioners and seasonal tickets for people who walk their dogs every day," she says.
According to the draft by-laws "the council may require members of the public to pay a reasonable prescribed fee to use recreational or other facilities that the council provides within public open spaces".
But if he has to pay a fee, Greenside resident Nick Allen vows he will stop going to Emmarentia. For the past six years it has been his jogging destination of choice. "How can they charge us to go to a park that has belonged to us for the past 40 years? Louw Geldenhuis (a turn-of-the-century farmer) gave the park to the community many years ago. We pay rates and services to maintain Emmarentia.
"I bought my house in Greenside because I knew there were parks around me. I think that's why a lot of people buy houses here. And now they're going to make us pay to go there? That's not right," says this former secretary of the Greenside Ratepayers Association.
In the past two years, Emmarentia's scenic surrounds have been the scene of muggings and other petty crimes. "We think that the entrance fee will be able to deter crime. In the last two years, we have been receiving more and more complaints from people and we realised that we had to do something. There have also been theft of cactus in the past."
In August 2002, City Parks erected a fence that now circles the length of the park. It cost the parks agency R766 000. "Crime has decreased since the fence was erected," says Moodley. The gates at all of the entrances to the garden are now manned. And coupled with the entry fee, this will be used to monitor people visiting the park.
The entry fee has worked in other city parks where crime was rife, she says. "At Golden Harvest (in Randburg) there was a high crime element and we introduced a fee structure to curb crime. We've seen that payment has brought the crime and noise pollution levels down significantly."
But Peter Boberg, the commodore of Emmarentia's sailing club, disagrees. Charging people in order to stop theft in places like Emmarentia does not make sense, he says.
"It does not mean that if you pay for something you are not necessarily going to steal. I can pay to go the cinema, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to steal someone's handbag".
He suggests that community organisations and "bobbies on the beat" should rather be entrusted to watch over Emmarentia.
Meanwhile, the theme gardens in the Botanic Garden, home to colourful and extensive rose, herb and cactus collections are now out of bounds for dogs. "We have had lots of reports of dogs trampling on the rose gardens. People don't keep their dogs on leads and some people have been bitten by dogs," says Moodley. "We will continue to allow dogs at Emmarentia but they are not allowed to go to the theme gardens.
Dog walkers are instead urged to walk their dogs - on leads - in the northern stretches of the grounds and for now, they must access the entrances at Thomas Bowler Road, Orange Road, and The Braids.
A 40ha dog park, the first of its kind in South Africa, is being developed. Moodley says it will be located on the northern side of the dam wall and will be fenced. Dogs will be able to run unleashed through its domains, and the park will even be complete with "poo boxes" where owners can deposit their dog droppings.
If you are caught walking your dog without a lead in any city park, you are guaranteed a hefty fine for transgressing a city by-law.
"We're getting a lot of flak about the dog issue. But we cannot allow dogs to run freely at Emmarentia. There have always been signs indicating where people can walk their dogs and informing them that their dogs must be on leads but people don't even read these signs."
According to the draft public open space by-laws, "no person may walk, carry, ride or bring an animal into an open space, unless the animal is a guide dog and is accompanied by a person with a slight disability".
Pet owners have voiced their concerns about this by-law, as it appears as if they are no longer allowed to walk their dogs in public parks.
But Moodley stresses that the fine print in this by-law indicates that dogs are still allowed in the city's parks as long as they are on leads, and that signs are erected that clearly state the areas where dogs are allowed.
