JSE listed company takes charge

Premier Foods’ flour mill on the border between Salt River and Observatory has taken the first step towards solving the long-standing problem of enormous truck pushing their way through Observatory’s narrow roads.

The JSE listed company, owners of Snowflake flour which is produced at the mill, has recently hired property from Transnet as a base to park their trucks while they wait to get inside the mill. Up till now, the big trucks have been clogging the roads, including Lower Scott Road, as they queued for their slot at the mill.

Local ward councillor Brett Herron announced recently that he, the Mill, and the Observatory Improvement District (Obsid) have been working together to solve the problem. At a recent public meeting about traffic issues organised by the Obsid, he said: "Premier Mill is going to buy some property (next to Chatham Road), which will give them the turning space into their mill."

He was referring to the fact that the trucks are forced to travel through Obs to get to the mill because the bend at the junction of Lower Main and Malta Road is too sharp for the huge trucks to turn.

Brett said a detailed design which for trucks to access Chatham Road from Malta Road, was recently presented to the mill’s board.

Residents at the Obsid’s “traffic indaba” asked Brett whether the trucks will then be denied access down Lower Scott Road. He replied that there was no need, as Premier “is not being difficult, they are actually working with us."
The company clammed up when ObsLife tried to get details of the plans. But its public relations agency said there were three phases. The first phase was to rent the land for trucks to park while waiting to enter the mill. They did not want to comment on the second and third phases because negotiations are still under way.

ObsLife believes this entails the land purchase to create access via Malta Road.
A press release quoting Kobus Wiese, Premier Foods’ milling director, read: “Having our delivery trucks stuck in traffic is not only frustrating but very costly as far as time, fuel and emissions are concerned. We saw an opportunity to alleviate some of the local traffic congestion when a property adjacent to the milling plant became available for rent from Transnet.”
Brian Amery, former COO at the Obsid, said at the Obsid annual general meeting: "What is happening is that the mill is going to be buying some land on Chatham Street so that the trucks can come off Malta Road. They’re going to make a landing base there and they won’t have to come through Observatory.”

Addition to the Woodstock fleet

WOODSTOCK Police say Observatory will see more police visibility now that the Woodstock precinct has recently received two extra vehicles to their fleet, bringing the total from 19 vans to 21.

But local crime watchers were sceptical about the levels of visibility of the police in the area.
Sergeant Hilton Malila, the media liaison for the precinct, said that more vans will be deployed in the crime plagued areas, including Observatory, which accounts for most of the crime in the Woodstock precinct.
The police station has also received two quad bikes for patrols on Devil’s Peak.
Hilton said that Observatory has two police patrol vans during the day and night, and over weekends, four or five vehicles patrol the area. He said that the vans focus on Polo, Arnold, Cooke and Robins Road because of the high crime volumes in those roads. Hilton said for the same reason, Main Road gets a lot of attention over weekends.
But Frank Schuitermaker, an Obs resident and anti-crime activist, said there is often a discrepancy between what the police promise and what is carried out. He pointed to a recent promise during the anti-drug march in Salt River last month that the Police would patrol inside the Shelley Road Sport Park daily to stop the blatant drug trade there, but during a recent public Community Police Forum meeting complaints emerged that these patrols were not done. He was sceptical about the constant presence of two police vans in Observatory.

But Ursula van Stavel, COO of the Observatory Improvement District, said that she hears the activity over the radio and the police are very active over the weekends.

Is this the end for the ONW?

Has the Observatory Neighbourhood Watch (ONW) reached its sell-by date? After an hour of back-and-forth deliberation about who should take over as chair, a committee was formed at the recent ONW annual general meeting (AGM) to keep the dying organisation alive.
Nearly all of the sixteen people present were nominated, but none of the nominees wanted to stand as chair, or be part of the committee. This election continued for an hour until a decision was made. James Cowley, the outgoing ONW chair, had resigned from the position, and therefore was unable to take up the position for another term.
The newly formed committee consists of the chair, Trevor Hughes, local activist and restaurateur, deputy chair, Howard Richman from The Green Elephant Backpackers, secretary Debra West, and treasurer, Vivian Yang, who were all very reluctant to stand, but did so to keep the organisation going.
The ONW only has six active street patrollers, who are the regular anti-crime activists, but it seems that the younger generation are disinterested in the ONW and the call for new members went in vain, with the membership numbers dropping, said James.
The general feeling at the AGM was that the Observatory Improvement District's public safety patrollers had taken over the role of the ONW, and may be the leading cause of the ONW’s deterioration.
The ONW have had many successes over the last two years. Since last year, 194 patrols have been done in and around Observatory. Of the 194 patrols, 124 were performed this year, said James.
But negative forces working against the ONW were stronger. Membership as well as the number of active patrollers dropped. Residents have become complacent, because of the public safety patrollers and don’t find it necessary to participate.
To add to the ONW’s problems, it emerged that the registration of the ONW had been misplaced, which means that the organisation needs to reregister in order to form part of the community police forum.
Businesses and residents helped donate the two-way radios to the ONW, including a R100 000 antenna, which will no longer serve much purpose. The patrol radios provided by the ONW to the police have been inactive since April.
In another blow, the ONW is also losing its direct communication with the Obsid’s safety patrollers, who have switched to digital radios. The ONW will still have contact with the control room to call for back-up. Brian Amery, former Obsid COO, said that this may not be a bad thing because the control room has a direct line to the police, and this may be even faster.
The ONW was started by Brian Gray and David Raphael five years ago to combat the high volumes of crime in Observatory. David Raphael was chair of the ONW for a while before James Cowley took the position. 

Oldest business in Obs turns 102

ONE hundred and two years later and the oldest business in Observatory is still open and ready for business.
Himat Makanjee Parag, 73, has been the owner of Makanjee's shoe store since he was 12 years old. He took over the business, Corner Rochester and Robins Road, when his brother died at 29 years old in 1951.
His family is originally from India, but emigrated to Durban when his father moved down to Stanger. After their father died in Durban, their uncle who owned Makanjee's called them down as they were destitute in Durban, and they then started working for him. His brother later took over the store after the death of his uncle.
Himat was born in the Mekanjee's home in Obs and he says that when they started the shop, it was one quarter of the size that it is now.
He said that he was forced to take over the shop at 12 when his brother died because there was no one else. He tells how he struggled to keep the shop afloat. Because he couldn’t drive, he lost many clients in the Goodwood area to which his brother used to deliver. He also had to divide his attention between the shop and his school work, which he continued till grade eight.
In 1964, at the age of 21, Himat got married and later became a father of five sons and one daughter.
Himat proudly tells of their success. They count among them an eye specialist, a SARS manager, an attorney, and recently his son Raj was appointed CEO of FNB Wealth. Himat said that he never had the chance to better his education, "it was maybe not for me...I never had it, so I gave it to my children".
Before, Makanjee's only repaired shoes, but now they sell shirts, ties, shoes as well.
Himat said that business is slow and that it used to be good, but with all the boutiques and factory shops starting in the area, as well as the recession, his business has taken a knock, but he says that he still has a fair amount of clients.

New OCA chair

OBSERVATORY has been taken by storm by Emile Young, an Obs resident of six years who, in the space of a few months, has become chair of the Observatory Improvement District's (Obsid's) HR committee, deputy chair on the Woodstock Community Police Forum (CPF), and most recently the chair of the Observatory Civic Association (OCA).
Emile, 55, a project management consultant with a varied career, has not been active in Obs community structures until this year.
Emile says that she was urged to get involved by the 96-year-old with whom she lives in Arnold Street. Her “Gogo”, as she calls her “adopted grandmother”, told her to use her extensive experience to become active in Observatory. Her experience includes local government economic planning and public administration.
Because of Emile's financial background, and expertise in the business field, she aims to bring these skills into the OCA, by taking on a business approach to running the civic. Her first priority is to come up with a strategy to turn around the ailing organisation. The OCA has suffered a loss of membership ever since the establishment of the Observatory Improvement District. Emile believes that this is because of confusion in the minds of Obs residents over the functions of the OCA on the one hand and the Obsid on the other.
The danger is that the Obsid may wipe out the OCA as it dominates the issues which were once dealt with by the OCA. A strategy is needed to clarify the roles and enliven the OCA once more. She says that one meeting will be held before the end of the year, and she is planning a strategy workshop early next year.
Apart from her OCA plans, Emile oversees HR, auditing and governance of the Obsid as one of seven board members.
Concerning her work at the Woodstock CPF, she describes her role as one of monitoring and raising Obs issues at the forum. She says the fact that the Woodstock Police seldom attend the Obs Community Police subforum meetings is a serious problem.
Emile now considers Observatory to be her home. She studied numerous degrees at Stellenbosch University, ranging from anthropology to African studies. Emile said she has never stopped studying.
After a stint as a teacher in Bishop Lavis and Belhar, she became an economic town planner for various coastal towns. She also designed a performance-management system for the North West Province.
Emile's reason for choosing Obs was "because I like it." So much so, that she would only live in Cape Town if she could live in Observatory, "the best suburb in Cape Town." Emile said she wants to keep the village atmosphere and keep the close-knit community in Obs.

Where to buy drugs in Obs?

Interviews by ObsLife with recovering local drug addicts has revealed a fascinating picture of a lively and brazen drug trade in the village, controlled mainly by two mid-ranking dealers.
Getting drugs in Obs is as easy as walking into a club and asking who sells. 
Heroin, tik, marijuana and buttons seem to be popular among the users in Observatory, and a fix, which is about 30grams can cost from R30 upwards.
ObsLife managed to interview two recovering drug- addicts who bought and used drugs in Observatory. Their names cannot be revealed for their safety. They painted a detailed picture of the brazen drug trade in Obs, and how drugs are traded on street corners and in clubs. .
According to the recovering addicts, who were interviewed separately and did not know each other prior to their rehabilitation, most of the street-corner dealing that they knew of took place on the corner of Norfolk and Lower Main, the corner of Nuttal and Station Road and at the bus-stop on the corner of Station and Main Road. 
They also described how drug trade takes place in  Mezani's on the corner of Trill and Main Road, Cozy Bar in Lower Main Road, Groove Lounge in Lower Main Road, and Oriental Pub and Restaurant in Main Road. .
Cozy Bar apparently has a reputation for cheap, low-quality drugs, while the dealers working around Mezani and Oriental offer “good quality stuff”.  Mezani was also mentioned as the main storage place for drugs. This ties in with a drug bust earlier this year in which the police arrested two suspected drug dealers at the club.
One of the recovering addicts, who named Obs his "playground" and has been a user for 18 years, said that there are two main dealers who operate in Observatory. They are not the only dealers, but they are best known for the consistent quality of their drugs. 
The recovering addicts described how drugs are traded on the spot, as a simple swop of money and merchandise. Asked if there were any evasive tricks such as paying for the drugs on one spot and collecting it at another, they said the only precaution the street-level dealers take is to keep a packet of the drugs in their months so that they can swallow it if they are raided.
He said that he believes that the police are in cahoots with the dealers, because they know who the dealers are they see the transactions taking place, but they don't arrest the dealers, instead they arrest the buyers. "The police are in it 100 percent...there's no doubt in my mind". One of the addicts described how every Sunday, dealers would hand out a free packet of drugs, called “boosters” to their regular buyers.
He said that as far as he knows, not much dealing takes place from houses in Observatory. , but mentioned a house in Lower Scott Road and in Baker Street.