Litter has become all too normal in a suburb that is on the decline Photo @MOMO-SULIMAN
Fordsburg – A suburb that once was filled with charm and a vibrant community has now fallen into disrepair with many of its former residents leaving for greener pastures. Fordsburg has seen many dark days and some fear worse is to come, should the current leaders fail to make things right.
Fordsburg Square was once a hub of activity, street food and family-friendly shopping, it is now the center of dirt and drugs. It was the go-to place on Saturdays for one’s monthly shopping, but many are choosing alternative spots to buy their spices and stock up on China fruit and other sweets. The Oriental Plaza drew people from all over to its fabric shops, quaint book stores and back-to-back shoe shops. People are now choosing to bypass this suburb and shop elsewhere.
Local resident, Waqas Latiff has spent many years in Fordsburg and speaks about the town as if it is already dead to him. He recounts fondly the memories he has of the town when he first arrived.
“It was cleaner 16 years ago. There was a certain vibe about the place. You’d wait for the weekends to come so that you could walk around, eat somewhere and just kill some time. People were still considerate at the time when it came to doing business. You would see families walking around visiting and people from out of the country and different provinces. It was great.”
The picture he paints of the past is vastly different to how he compares life in Fordsburg today.
“Now the streets are filthy. The town has a stink due to littering and garbage not being picked up. People park [their cars] wherever they want to, and you will see large rats running around all the time. Crime is on the rise and there is public negligence all over.”
Latiff explains that begging has become rampant in the town and the beggars “intimidate you and make you feel so bad.” He has started avoiding certain streets because of the stress and the “big psychological toll” it takes on him.
In the past 10 years there has been a large influx of foreign nationals to Fordsburg to set up businesses. “Having foreigners is never a bad contribution to a country. There are many benefits to it but some of them have no regards for us or the rules of the country,” explains Latiff.
In the past, trying to find drugs or even those who used it in Fordsburg was difficult but according to Latiff drugs are widespread in the streets.
“Drugs are openly being used around Fordsburg especially by the Post Office and in that area. You will see the guys sitting there and taking those drugs without a care in the world.”
Potholes in the town have been left unrepaired for so long that Latiff calls them his “long lasting friends.” Some roads are uneven and have been like this “for the past 8 to 10 years,” he claims.
Service delivery has become non-existent in the town, claims Latiff. With the previous management, “roads being fixed, fixing streetlights and robots, cleanliness, preventing crime, creating and giving jobs” became absent.
As crime continues to rise, Latiff believes the cops are not there to protect the residents at all, rather they are there to make life miserable as “they disrespect you and are always asking for bribes.”
A former resident of Fordsburg decided to close their shop and move after their partner was kidnapped. The resident says throughout the ordeal, the cops were of no help to them. After the partner was kidnapped and the lack of response from the police, they contemplated leaving the country altogether.
Life for this former resident was never easy in Fordsburg, and they explain from the moment they arrived, the town was long past its “glory days”.
“When we first moved to Fordsburg, it was already going down. People were getting attacked at the ATMs on a daily basis. Shops are getting robbed and nothing is being done about it. Up till now it is still the same, it is still horrid.”
They believe that Fordsburg has been thrown aside and “left out” because “there are foreigners living there.”
“I believe it’s pure racism in my opinion. One doesn’t see all this ugliness in other areas as much as it is seen in Fordsburg and to top it off the police [are] corrupt. They take bribes in the open and are very racist with the foreigners. Lately there has been a large police presence in the area and when I asked one police officer why are you here, he said, ‘it’s to clean up Fordsburg’ and in the second breath he caught a Malawian boy in front of me and threatened him, asking him for his passport. That conversation ended in a police van and the boy was released.”
ANC councillor for Ward 58, Abdur Rahmaan Rickey Kishore Nair has a vision to take Fordsburg out of this mess. He however admits he might not be able “to get it to its glory days but we can at least make it decent and make people want to come back to Fordsburg.”
Nair admits, “One of the biggest problems facing Fordsburg is the number of vagrants, drug addicts and so-called car guards.” He has plans to implement a forum called “Save Fordsburg” by next week in order to bring people and businesses together and help solve the problem. Meetings, he hopes, will happen on a weekly basis to assess how things are going.
“The idea is to, firstly from a security point of view, get one or two companies in the area. Secondly to put up CCTV cameras that can be monitored by security and of course start moving the vagrants out which is quite a difficult task… Businesses are closing and selling up. Businesses that have been here for 80 to 100 years.”
Responding to the matter of police officers seeking bribes from residents, Nair made it clear that residents need to “stop paying bribes.” He said he has addressed the situation with brigadiers “but it is difficult…. But these are issues I am addressing as a councillor, but it isn’t going to change overnight.”
