July 14, 2006
By Tammy O'Reilly
IN ONE dramatic swoop, a task force targeted crime and grime in Joubert Park - the latest leg of the City's inner city Clean and Green campaign.
The well-planned crackdown in the vicinity of Joubert Park took place through the night of Thursday, 13 July, continuing into the early hours of Friday morning.
The briefing session for the task team
The raid was conducted by a team of 400 Inner City Task Force members, 350 department of correctional service officers, department of home affairs officials, environmental health officers and about 300 police officers from the South African Police Service and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department.
Located near Park Station and the Noord Street taxi rank, this area has a high volume of pedestrians and vehicles where hundreds of illegal traders contribute to the filth. Crime levels are high and many of the high-rise buildings here, once offices, are in disrepair through being used as residential property.
Smit Street in the north, Nugget Street on the east, Plein in the south and Wanderers Street in the west were cordoned off, and all the streets in between were targeted.
Simultaneous roadblocks were set up on Louis Botha Avenue and on main roads leading to highways.
The police contingent and officers from the department of correctional services were on the lookout for drugs, weapons, escaped prisoners and checking that prisoners on parole were not violating their parole rights.
Places of entertainment that were operating without a licence were also closed down.
The department of home affairs were on hand to check the identities of people who were suspected to be in the country illegally.
Once arrests had been made, the Inner City Task Team stepped in to hose down the streets and remove illegal structures and advertising.
"The Inner City clean-up began on 22 June in the peripheral areas of the inner city like Bertrams and Yeoville and now we are moving into one of the biggest problem areas," says Martin New, Region 8 manager of Inner City Regeneration.
"Through today's operation we are emphasising the multi-disciplinary approach to urban management and by-law enforcement and these interventions are not only about 2010. They are simply being put in place to address the many challenges that the inner city is facing."
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