They urinate on the fence, toss bottles in the street, drink alcohol from the boots of their cars… and all this on a Sunday afternoon.
|||Cape Town -
They urinate on the fence, toss bottles in the street, drink alcohol from the boots of their cars… and all this on a Sunday afternoon.
Woodstock residents are fed up with Cape Town’s most hardcore party animals, and these are some of the gripes they list. Revellers who set out for a good time at aMadoda’s in Strand Street, Woodstock, on Sundays have become an unwelcome headache for residents.
The parties can draw crowds of up to 1 000 people to surrounding streets, and residents of Harbour View say they are plagued by “persistent noise” from aMadoda’s. The popular “Cold Turkey” parties are particularly bad, they say.
Residents said numerous complaints to the city and police had fallen on deaf ears and the club owner was not doing enough to control patrons.
The management of aMadoda’s told the Cape Argus they were committed to co-operating with the residents and wanted to address any problems. A notice on their website’s home page highlights the complaints, and asks patrons to “Pleez respekt aMadoda rules!!”
Leo Rust, a trustee at the Harbour View complex, said the situation had become steadily worse in the past six months.
“Tenants are parked in, fire escape doors blocked regularly by cars parked in front of them by patrons, loud noise into the early hours, broken bottles in the road and patrons driving the wrong way in Bromwell Street.”
André Potgieter, of aMadoda, said when the first complaints were lodged, he had a meeting with law enforcement officials and members of the block’s body corporate, where grievances were aired.
He said the Cold Turkey movement had moved to aMadoda’s about a year ago. “It is a hugely successful event and draws a calibre of young professionals.”
Potgieter said that because of the genre of music played – particularly “dubstep” – bass was a requirement. But aMadoda’s had introduced technology to monitor the decibels.
It was also looking at options for a new parking area, while DJs had stopped playing at 11pm instead of midnight.
Potgieter showed off posters, displayed at the Cold Turkey events, that pleaded with people not throw their bottles in the street. “Where they get the booze from I don’t know – they are not allowed to take alcohol out of here,” he said.
The city’s director of safety and security, Richard Bosman, said a compliance notice had been issued to the owner when the initial complaints were lodged.
He said it was found recently “the activities that prompted the complaint” had recurred and the city would be “reinvestigating” to submit a report to the Western Cape Liquor Authority. It would ask that the owner be summonsed for a meeting about the problems. A fire inspector would be designated to carry out a fire safety inspection.
natasha.prince@inl.co.za
Cape Argus