Harrison Ndlovu
In a bid to control public urinating in their neighbourhood, Hillbrow residents are imposing spot fines ranging between R10 and R50 for offenders
Central Hillbrow, with its high liquor consumption and many dark alleyways, is worst affected and residents have taken it upon themselves to control the health hazard.
On a wall on Randhill building in Claim Street is a spraypainted notice that reads: “No toilet here, fine R50 if you piss here, we moer [hit] you.”
Security officer Tony Kasese says a hole in the alleyway once held a pool of urine and other filth, which stank for weeks. “My colleagues and I took action to prevent disease by making sure there was no more urine there.”
Kasese said they monitored the alley and discouraged anyone from urinating on the wall. “In the beginning stubborn men threatened us with violence and one once suggested that the only way to stop the urinating was for us to build a toilet there, but we kept discouraging them.”
He says after one of his colleagues spraypainted the notice on to the wall many were discouraged from urinating there. He said they have not yet fined anyone. “Since the notice appeared we never saw anyone urinating there.”
A similar message is painted on the northern wall of the Mount Manor apartment building near the Klein and Esselen streets intersection. “Urinate, fine R10,” it reads.
On King George Street a similar sign is painted on a wall near a garage. However, tipsy men are often seen leaning against the walls, and the ground is not very dry.