Scottsville residents create food garden

Part of the field along Milton Road will be transformed into a food garden.

A Scottsville gang haunt is being turned into a community food garden.

Two Scottsville-based charities, People’s Unity To Save Communities (PUSC) and the Indigenous Women’s Organisation, are working with ward councillor Brenda Hansen to plant veggies and herbs on a 200m2 field next to Milton Road.

The project is part of the mayoral urban regeneration programme (MURP), and, according to Ms Hansen, R35 000 has been ploughed into it for fencing, seeds, soil, plants, a water tank and gardening equipment.

“This project is not part of a job creation initiative; instead it is a community development project,” she said.

Last Friday, an excavator was busy at the site while residents helped to clear the field.

PUSC director Adriaan Speelman, said they had approached sub-council with the concept following a spike in gang-related crime on the field.

The body of 25-year-old Wayne “Valie” Scott was found, with multiple stab wounds to the chest, on that field in April last year (“Mother mourns slain son,” Northern News, April 25 2019).

Mr Speelman urged young and old, especially those with green fingers, to get involved.

“People in Scottsville have become so isolated because of the crime here, and we hope that the garden will be a way to get the community to stand together again.” The garden has a fence and a lockable gate and a CCTV camera overlooks the area.

The garden would keep children off the streets and help people get to know each other, Mr Speelman said.

“We want this garden to be a safe space for everyone and encourage other areas in the community to do the same.”

Call Adriaan Speelman at 073 184 5312 or Paul Segers at 078 100 4531 to be part of the Scottsville Community Garden Project.