Man earning a living from vegetable garden suffers devastating loss after City Power destroys it
A man who grew veggies in a vacant lot along Jan Smuts Avenue in Johannesburg has had his vegetable garden flattened by City Power workers.
Johannesburg local Alfred Mhkize faced shock and heartache as City Power workers tore down his entire vegetable garden along Jan Smuts Avenue.
Mkhize watched helplessly as his labour of love was dug up and discarded into plastic bags.
A ‘PUBLIC’ VEGETABLE GARDEN
The space was once an abandoned and overgrown area. Mkhize transformed this patch of land into a vegetable garden and grew veggies like tomatoes, carrots, cabbages and spinach.
He earned a living by selling these vegetables to passers-by.
Randburg and Linden police had even visited and commended his work, and the positive change he had brought to the space.
“We started on the other side of the bridge; we opened a big place and the rangers stopped us after they had planted trees in the park,” Mkhize told the Randburg Sun.
“This was a wild place and I opened it. Police came and never had a problem with what I did here. They allowed me to open up and make my garden.”
While his garden had been built under power lines, Mkhize hadn’t yet had any issues with local authorities. This was until he connected a shade netting to a power pylon.
“The police told me to take down the shade and talked about the danger it poses. They told me that the area was a hotspot for crime,” he added.
A SHADY REQUEST
Mkhize had erected the shade netting to protect his garden from the elements. He said that City Power officials had also approached a week before and asked him not to put anything near the power lines.
Mhkize obliged and took down the netting.
“The shade net was there for seven years. The minute they said I must take it down, I did,” Mkhize said.
“I don’t understand why they decided to destroy the garden. I am devastated by the manner they handled this situation.
“They should have told me not to plough under the lines. They could destroy there, but not the whole garden.”
Mkhize said he used to receive a lot of support from locals for the vegetables he was growing and selling.
“They would come to me and ask for certain veggies and I was making a living,” he added.
“It is really painful to see all my hard work being destroyed and thrown away.”
City Power were asked for comment on the matter, but had not yet responded at the time of publishing.