Residents in Oakdale are appealing to a local gospel singer, who performs at the Bellville taxi rank, to turn the volume down.
For little over a year now, the singer performs at various locations at the taxi rank over weekends, and sometimes in the week, where he pulls a crowd and sells CDs of his recordings with the aid of five massive speakers all turned up to maximum volume.
The singer goes by the name of Lucky Blessing, although there is another singer performing by that name who is based in Bloemfontein.
Although the performer in Bellville uses the name of Lucky Blessing, he shares very little resemblance to the Bloemfontein-based singer, who has a Facebook page with nearly 500 followers.
When asked about why his speakers were played so loud the singer, who is well aware of the complaints from residents nearby, simply replied that he is “spreading the message of the Lord”.
Blessing confirmed that security and City of Cape Town officials have approached him about the sound, however, he will continue to do the “Lord’s work”.
Residents in Oakdale, which is between 2km to 4km away, though believe that the volume can be turned down.
Oakdale Neighbourhood Watch member Marina van Rijswijk said: “We do not begrudge him (Blessing) for wanting to play his music and sell his CDs, I mean if that is his source of income then we cannot have a problem with that, but we feel that it is unfair that he plays his music so loud that it disturbs half of a community.”
Ms Van Rijswijk added that over the weekends and sometimes in the week, she can stand at her front door and record the music on her cellphone.
“My main concern about the volume is that it disturbs the nearby old age home and many other residents closer to the rank who are either unaware to make complaints or who are simply just accepting it as a disturbance.”
After numerous meetings about the disturbance, the Oakdale residents have made multiple complaints to the City and the police for help, all asking for the music to be turned down to an acceptable volume.
Ward 10 councillor Jackie Visser, who oversees the area that includes the taxi rank, is well aware of the issue and she has assigned law enforcement officers to deal with it.
Ms Visser said: “We are definitely looking into the matter as there has been multiple complaints made to the City about the noise levels. We have instructed Hendrik Smit, the law enforcement officer in the area and we will enforce the by-laws.”
Ms Visser added that officials has approached Blessing about the music volumes but instead of complying the singer just simply set up shop in another area.
Ms Visser said: “The officers have on multiple occasions stopped the music from playing but then they just moved to another area.
“However, this has just increased the number of complaints as places like Northlink and Bellrail have all joined Oakdale in making complaints. So it is an issue of the utmost importance to us and hopefully we can come to a resolution soon.”
Ms Van Rijswijk added that she has received news of people as far as Boston also complaining about the noise so she hopes that Ms Visser and law enforcement can come to a swift solution.
“We really are not saying that he must stop playing his music altogether, but why does he get to go against the rules that are set for everyone. At a recent meeting we were told by the City representative that the laws regarding loud music in public places are not only City laws but are provincial. So why does everybody else in the province have to follow these rules and not him?”
Big flips and fireworks as drivers burn up the track