August 2015 Tel: 021 811 7654Neighbourhood news, taken seriously

Observatory Wheel alignment and balancing R260

Apply in-store for your Supaquick Card. Get your tyres on CREDIT now!

Performance Exhaust: Stainless steel system guaranteed for 5 years (excl front pipe). Great fuel saver. Fitted from R999.

Free drop-off, pick-up service

We do all suspension repairs at very competitive prices. All work

guaranteed.

321A Main Rd, Tel: 021 447 0591 - 082 076 4384

To LetCommercial Parking Bays:

Woodstock @ R500

(VAT not applicable)

Salt River @ R400 (excl. VAT)

087 755 6677

www.primeletting.co.za

Woodstock @ R500

(VAT not applicable)

and

Salt River @ R400

(excl VAT)

Commercial Parking Bays

087 755 6677

www.primeletting.co.za

Notorious drug house for saleTHE notorious Naan’s Building in Al-bert Road, which has arguably been the biggest headache for the South African Police for more than a decade, is up for sale.

The problem building, which belongs to the S I Patel Trust, was at one point deemed the “most secured drug den” in Cape Town by the police.

According to an advertisement on Pillay Properties’ website, which is fa-cilitating the sale, the building is on the market for R3,9m.

Property agent Gona Pillay said the building has not yet been sold, but there are interested parties. She said the building will be sold with “vacant occu-pation”, but would not say if the tenants have already received eviction notices yet.

It will take some doing to empty the building. Up to 65 people, includ-ing children, live there, while numerous drug addicts visit the building every day

to buy and use drugs. A tenant who lives in the building

said they knew that the building was on the market, and they were uncertain about their future.

Mandrax, tik and dagga are for sale at the front door. Rooms are available to consume the drugs and pass out in.

Users usually leave via the back door in Grey Street.

The pos-sible sale of Naan’ Build-ing brings hope that drug houses in Woodstock are slowly but surely closing down. Anoth-er notorious drug den, the Rainbow Tav-

ern in Albert Road, closed last year and recently “Maskani”, a derelict building on Metrorail’s property in Woodstock which harboured a brazen drug trade was demolished.

Reports showed that in 2001, Wood-stock had at least 64 drug houses and Woodstock was described by the police chief at the time as a “drug Mecca”.

Now, there are only about 10 known drug outlets, mostly in the Lower Woodstock area, a police source told WoodstockLife.

For more than 15 years, police have struggled to get Naan’s Building closed down despite hundreds of drug-related arrests and countless sting operations, sometimes involving helicopters. And while the drug operation at the build-ing is still ongoing, it has scaled down drastically, and the building is just a shadow of the highly-secured fortress it used to be.

WoodstockLife learnt that the City

A street har-vester trans-ports wood stripped from the gutted part of Naan’s Building, the notorious fort-like drug house, which is now for sale.

continued on page 5

www.woodstocklife.co.za info@woodstocklife.co.zaAugust 20152

Tree boxes along Albert Rd rebuilt 3 timesBy Aubrena ArmstrongTHE contested red-bricked tree box-es along Albert Road have been rebuilt three times in the last few months, rais-ing questions about the City’s planning processes.

Some residents believe the start-ing price of R8 500 budgeted for each box, including the tree, was unneces-sary expenditure. WoodstockLife asked ward councillor Brett Herron for details of the escalation of the costs due to the rebuilding of the boxes, but the City’s media office, to whom the questions were referred, failed to provide details, saying simply that the contractor re-planted the trees for free.

Community members also com-plained about the lack of community consultation about the boxes.

The initial plan was to simply plant 25 trees straight into the ground with-out raised boxes, and in between park-ing bays on the road surface instead of on the pavement. But contractors found live cabling under the ground, and it was decided to plant the trees on the pavement in raised boxes.

First the boxes were built in the middle of the pavement, but they were

found to take up too much pedestrian space.

The tree boxes were then broken down and rebuilt on the edge of the pavement. Still later, the boxes were reduced in size.

The City is adamant that the recon-struction of the tree boxes were not “corrections” but rather “refinements” to the project.

According to the City’s media of-fice, four of the boxes were removed between Greatmore and Argyle Street because the pavement was too narrow.

Not all residents are against the boxes. A few residents expressed their appreciation for the tree boxes on the Woodstock community Facebook page.

One resident, Thomas van Zyl, said that although there are other ways to spend the money, residents should be happy with the effort the City is putting in to improve Woodstock.

Another resident, Himmy Abad-

er, said the tree along Albert Road are “great” and part of the gentrification process.

But Eddie Thompson, an Albert Road resident and businessman, said the fact that the City chose to spend money on tree boxes instead of other priorities in Lower Woodstock, like a proper park, is a “major joke”. “I really think they could have done better with the money ... They didn’t need any boxes,” said Mr Thompson.

Another resident, Crispian Swarbrek, said there had been no public consulta-tion about the construction of the tree boxes.

Mr Swarbrek attended the initial walk-about in 2012 during which the green cycle lanes were discussed but no mention was made of the tree boxes.

However, the City said businesses and residents who registered as inter-ested parties were consulted during the design and construction phase.

Resident and business owner Eddie Thompson shows the markings left behind by the oversized tree boxes that took up too much pedestrian space.

WOODSTOCKR3.9M. Calling all investors/develop-ers! Two Townhouses consisting of shops, flats, a plot for parking, and a Granny Flat. Erf size: 408m² / Build-ing Size: 266m². Zoning: MU2

Master Practitioners in Real Estate (MPRE) Members of the Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA)

CONTACT: GONA PILLAY: 021 685 7710: 082 926 2371

: gona@pillayproperties.co.za: www.pillayproperties.co.za

ELSIES RIVERR1.650M. Prime Commercial Site! Per-

fect redevelopment opportunity. Erf Size: 428 m². Zoning: General Business 2.

For SaleSALT RIVER

R2.5M. A set of 4 semi-detached homes, each comprising 2 beds,

kitchen, lounge & bath. Ideal invest-ment property on a 520 m² plot. Close

to the city and all transport routes. Zoning: MU2. Calling all investors!

www.woodstocklife.co.za info@woodstocklife.co.zaAug2015 3

Email: barrie@communitylifemedia Phone: 021 811 7654

Fast, accurate flyer distribution

The map illustrates the level of detail in which our clients are able to verify our distribution. The line shows the route walked by our distributor, and the flags pinpoint the exact positions each letter box in which he had placed a leaflet

City enforces rules of controversial cycle

Right: City contrac-tors recently repaint-ed the cycle lanes for the third time. Left: Customers of businesses along Albert Road park on the cycle lane after all the parking space on the sea side of Albert Road was re-placed by the bicycle route.

By Aubrena ArmstrongAS the halving of parking space in the bustling Albert Road to make way for the green cycles lanes continues to spark debate, several puzzling aspects of the design of the R20m lanes have emerged.

One is the removal of loading zones on the sea side of Albert Road which has been a nightmare for business-es whose delivery vehicles have been slapped with R1 000 fines for parking on the new cycle lane. So far, at least 103 fines have been issued.

Crispian Swarbrek of the Woodstock Community Outreach Forum (WCOF) said when he attended the initial walk-about in 2012 with Chand Environmental Consultants, the company contracted by the City to handle the public participa-tion process, they said there would be demarcated areas for delivery trucks.

Estelle Bravo, owner of Woodstock Postnet next to the Old Biscuit Mill, said: “We’re dependent on couriers. The courier guys have to park on the green line (the bicycle lane) because there is nowhere else for them to park.”

She was also worried that the cycle lanes have been repainted three times since construction. The green paint seems to fade and peel off.

Ward councillor Brett Herron re-ferred WoodstockLife’s questions to the City’s media office, which said residents and business owners were invited to register as interested parties during the public participation process.

In 2011, a notice was placed in the Cape Times, Cape Argus and the Cape Towner, said the City, adding that a comment sheet and information docu-ment were handed to properties along Albert Road.

Mr Swarbrek said requests to Chand for details and plans of the cycle lanes before the construction went unan-swered.

Another puzzling aspect of the cycle lanes is the placement of the demarcat-ed parking bays on the mountain side of Albert Road. The parking bays are right next to the pavement with the cycle

lane in between the parking spaces and the car lane, effectively forcing cars to cross the cycle lane to park.

Marianne van der Schuren, a pro-fessor at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) Centre for Transport, while she hasn’t studied the Albert Road project in detail yet, she criticised the arrange-ment of lanes for forcing parking vehi-cles to compete with cyclists. She would have placed the cycle lanes in between the pavement and the parking bays.

Dylan Culhane, a Devon Street resi-dent who regularly uses the cycle lane, said traffic in Albert Road will just get worse and cycling to work makes him feel like he is doing something to alle-viate that problem.

Andrew Nero of Africa Skate, an on-line platform for skateboarders, said the cycle lanes benefit the skateboarding community because it provides a space for them to travel in legally. Skate-boarders are not allowed to ride in the street or on the pavement.

But he believes enforcement is a negative way of promoting non-motor-ised transport. “Unless there is posi-tive education, people are going to go against it and not help the change pro-cess,” said Mr Nero.

The City’s media office said officials are looking at the parking issues along the cycle lanes. “A public engagement

session with the affected businesses, through our public participation special-ist Chand, is planned where we plan to present options to the affected parties in resolving their concerns.”

In addition to the studs placed on the road surface along the cycle lanes, bol-lards will also be put up to “encourage road users to change their attitudes to-wards cyclist”, said the City.

www.woodstocklife.co.za info@woodstocklife.co.zaAugust 20154

City shuts down Yew Street MarketBy Aubrena ArmstrongBAD vibes linger between Salt River residents and some businesses owners after the street market initiative at the corner of Yew and Hopkins Street had been shut down for good by the City following complaints from locals who said the market disturbed the piece.

The market only took place three times and was started by Salt River resident Kim van Lingen who said she wanted to provide a space for local crafters to sell handmade products. Her plan was to hold the market every Sat-urday. But after the first market day at the end of May, Ms Van Lingen was not granted another permit to run the event for the following Saturday because of complaints from surrounding residents and businesses.

In a previous interview with Wood-stockLife, Ms Van Lingen said initial complaints from the residents and busi-nesses were contested by an out-pour-ing of support by other community members. She said she then received a permit to run the second market day in June.

WoodstockLife quoted Ms Van Lin-gen as saying that permission for the market was held up because of un-necessary red tape from the City. Salt River residents subsequently criticised WoodstockLife for not giving a voice to the people who were not happy about the market.

Hopkins Street resident Gamiem Sa-lie said during the first market day, he and visitors to his home had difficulty accessing his house because the road was blocked off by “civilian traffic con-trollers” appointed by Ms Van Lingen.

Another resident and business own-er, Jonathan Williams, also complained

to the City about the road closures. He said the congestion caused by the blocking off of Hopkins and Yew Street hampered tow-trucks off-loading vehi-cles at his premises.

Because of these complaints, Ms Van Lingen was instructed to scale down the market for the second and third market day, held in July, and not to make use of Hopkins Street at all.

Mr Salie also complained about the noise disturbance the market caused. He told WoodstockLife that they wer-en’t consulted about the market and just woke up one Saturday morning to the noise of people setting up stalls.

He said the market’s live music and generators from a food truck outside his house caused a lot of disturbance.

However, even after Ms Van Lingen was shown pictures of a live musician playing outside of the Boxing Club res-taurant in Yew Street, she was adamant the music was not organised by the market. She denied Mr Salie’s claims about the store holders setting up early

in the morning. “We’re such a small market, with-

out sponsorship it’s just not affordable. I can’t employ A and B grade security guards and have 6 traffic officers. It is just such a tiny market,” said Ms Van Lingen.

Mr Salie said he continued to sub-mit complaints to the City following all three market days.

The complaints led to the City’s Events Permit Office monitoring the market day on 4 July after strict condi-tions for the event was set.

Ms Van Lingen was subsequently called in front of the Events Co-ordina-tion Meeting to address the complaints and “the lack of appropriate measures for minimising any public safety risk”.

The committee then did not support the market to be held in Yew Street and Ms Van Lingen was instructed to find an alternative venue.

Ms Van Lingen said she is looking at other places to host the market, hope-fully in Woodstock or Salt River.

A sax-ophone player plays outside of the Box-ing Club restaurant in Yew Street on one of the three Yew Street Market days, when no amplified music was allowed at the event.

Sad loss as local businessman dies“HE was too young, but he was a bright flame- a bright flame that burnt out too soon.” said Simon Perry of his business partner, David Karpierz.

Mr Karpierz, 53, and the owner of the Fat Cactus in Woodstock and Mow-bray, suffered from melanomic skin cancer and recently succumbed to the disease.

Mr Perry said he had been work-ing with Mr Karpierz at the Fat Cactus in Mowbray for six years before they opened a second store on the corner of Albert and Plein Street.

Mr Karpierz was born and raised in Plumstead, started the Fat Cactus about ten years ago and moved to Rondebosch about five years ago where he lived un-til his death. He leaves behind his wife, Mandy, and two daughters. David Karpierz

www.woodstocklife.co.za info@woodstocklife.co.zaAug2015 5

Local antique store part of movie productionTWO teenage boys were re-cently arrested at Mandy’s on Main in Victoria Road after the police caught the youngsters stealing money and a radio at the local furniture store – well, in the movie world at least.

Mandy’s on Main, a well-known Woodstock antique fur-niture store, was recently one of many locations for the shooting of “Noem My Skollie”, a South African film production set for release in September next year.

The store’s modest exterior but large interior and the old-time furniture was what attract-ed producer David Max Brown, who knew the local antique shop was the perfect location for the film set in the 1960s.

“We liked this shop because we didn’t have to do a whole lot of dress-ing. There are [already] a whole lot of period furniture in there. It has got a great depth to it. It is very cinematic,” said Mr Brown.

“Noem My Skollie” is the story of young Abraham who is on the road to redemption after spending years in prison for petty crimes like theft.

Mandy’s on Main plays host to Abra-ham’s first criminal endeavour during which he and three friends break into

the store to steal a radio his father will fancy.

Two of the boys act as look-outs while Abraham and another friend break down the door of the furniture store with a crow bar. Abraham’s friend raids the showcase cabinet storing all the collectables while Abrahams emp-ties the till.

However, the boys are unaware that a silent alarm had alerted the po-lice, who can be seen pulling up to the store with blaring sirens. The boys rush through the store and hide in a back room but get caught by the police and

are sent to jail. Mandy Broodryk, owner of

Mandy’s on Main, said even though the film shoot was “nerve wreck-ing”, it was an interesting expe-rience. She said she was nervous that her items in the store would be damaged by the over 60 peo-ple milling around, reshuffling the furniture and packing away all the modern things to make the 60s scene happen.

She said it took her three days to re-order the store after the shoot. Nothing was damaged be-sides the door they repeatedly kicked down.

Mr Brown said Ms Broodryk and her daughter, the co-owner of

the store, were pleasant to work with. He said they got involved in the pro-duction process by suggesting which shots would work in the store.

The entire scene was filmed dur-ing the night from 4pm the afternoon to about 6am the following morning, said Mr Brown.

“Noem My Skollie” also incorpo-rates a scene shot in Albert Road in Salt River, just past the Salt River Circle.

The film stars Denise Newman, Os-car Petersen (Joe from Joe’s Barber) and Irshaad Ally from the recently ac-claimed Four Corners.

The crew of Max D Productions working on South African movie Noem my Skollie at Mandy’s on Main, while the shop owner, Mandy Broodryk (third from left) watches in the background.

Notorious drug den for salehas only recently started investigating Naan’s as a problem building, despite a previous high-publicity visit by the City’s head of Safety, JP Smith.

A City official said no one has ever officially complained.

The City had started its investiga-tion after a fire recently broke out at Saleem’s Cafe, which is based in the building, killing a man.

It was not the first fire at the prem-ises. About three years ago, a user fell asleep while smoking mandrax and set the room alight. “The fire department could not get into the building because it (was) so secured,” a source said.

Over the years, police have confis-cated hundreds of thousands of rands worth of drugs from the building, which is heavily secured by wrought iron gates, a camera system and sellers who stand guard around the clock.

The building is named after Sulei-man Salie, known as Naan, who has once been called Cape Town’s long-est-standing drug lord.

But, according to a reliable source, Naan no longer lives in the building, and the scaled-down operation is allegedly run by his estranged wife, Nazlie Salie.

The tenant said there are three or four families who live on the premises

that are not involved in the drug oper-ation at all.

Woodstock police spokesperson, sergeant Hilton Malila, said the police welcomed the fact that the owners have put the building up for sale.

“This building has been a problem for a decade, but we can proudly say now that it will finally come to an end,” said Sgt Malila

The community-police subforum chair of Woodstock below Main Road, Youssuf Kanouni, said: “It will be good if they get rid of (the building) because we want a safe community. We want a good environ-ment for our kids too.”

A local de-veloper who did not want to be named, told WoodstockLife that while he was very interested in buying Naan’s Building and re-vamping it to en-hance the area, he will only buy it if the premises were vacant.

continued from page 1

www.woodstocklife.co.za info@woodstocklife.co.zaAugust 20156

Advertorial

Pick n Pay provides blankets and clothing for the needy

Community-police forum chair jumps into actionIT may be his first time that he has been involved in civic structures, but the newly elected Community-Police forum (CPF) chair of Sector Four (Woodstock below Main Road), Youssuf Kanouni, has already jumped into action.

“Almost every day I walk around in the streets (of Woodstock) to see what is going on, take notes and sometimes I take pictures. I want to be able to an-swer to the community,” said Mr Ka-nouni.

The Woodstock resident and busi-ness owner has recently been elected to represent the residents of Wood-stock below Main Road in their liaison with the Woodstock police.

He took over from local estate agent Richard Gaertner, who resigned last year, but held office until a new chair was elected.

Originally from Morocco, Mr Kanouni moved to South Africa in 1994 to par-take in marathons held in Cape Town. He moved to Woodstock after buying property in the area. He owned houses in Grey Street and Jersey Street, which he sold, then moved to Roodebloem Road, where he now lives with his new wife. He also owns a clothing shop in Main Road opposite Balmoral called Casablanca.

He became interested in joining civ-

ic structures when he befriended com-munity leader Shaamiel Abbass.

Mr Kanouni became a reservist at the Woodstock police some years ago to assist in fighting crime in the neigh-bourhood.

His experience gave him insight on all the problematic spaces in the area, and how to address them. Once Mr Ka-nouni renews his reservist status, he will be able to do everything a South African Police member does – enforce

laws, take part in crime prevention op-erations and will have powers of arrest.

As a reservist, he has also built strong relationships with the members at the Woodstock police station, includ-ing with the Sector Four manager, Con-stable Chadwick Adams.

Mr Kanouni said one of the big-gest issues he would like to focus on is the problematic plot on the Wood-stock rail reserve, known to the locals as Maskani. Arguably the biggest crime hotspot in the area, Maskani is a hav-en for a brazen drug trade, prostitution and muggings. The plot belongs to the Passenger Railway Association of South Africa (Prasa).

He said the plot is neglected by Pra-sa, and they should secure it or use it for development. He plans to write to the mayor of Cape Town and the pre-mier of the Western Cape to put pres-sure on Prasa and other authorities to deal with the issue.

He said the recent demolition of a derelict building near Maskani, which was used as a haven for drug addicts to consume their purchases, did nothing to improve the situation.

Another issue that Mr Kanouni is addressing is dumping in the area.

Lower Woodstock residents can contact him on mushfiqah@hotmail.com.

BECAUSE of the community’s gener-osity, Observatory Pick n Pay Family Supermarket was able to provide four local charities with blankets and warm clothing donated by customers as part of the store’s winter drive.

“I’m sure that there are a lot of poor and needy people who are very grate-ful for our customers because I can tell you this much: this winter is the coldest I’ve lived through in a long time,” said Pick n Pay customer care manager Zeenith Thomas.

Ms Thomas said customers donat-ed trolleys full of blankets and clothing that were donated to the Cape Town Multi Service Centre, a boys’ shelter in Salt River, the Mary Kihn School for the hear-

ing impaired in Observatory, Beth Rapha Rehabilitation Centre in Obs and the social issues arm of the Groote Schuur Commu-

nity Improvement District (GSCID) in Mowbray.

She said not only are the charities benefiting directly from the donations but they are able to send some blan-kets and clothing others in need.

Observatory Pick n Pay will contin-ue its winter drive until the end of the season and urges customers to keep on donating blankets and warm clothing so that they can continue spreading the

warmth. Customers can also drop of station-

ery donations at the store’s information desk for donating to local schools.

Observatory Pick n Pay Family Super-market is open daily from 7am to 10pm. Phone 021 448 9802.

Pick n Pay staffers hand over blankets and clothing, which was donated to local charities as part of the store’s winter drive.

Woodstock below Main Road’s new CPF chair, Youssuf Kanouni.