Joburg to remove ‘illegal’ suburban boom gates
The City of Johannesburg says it will remove road restrictions around gated communities in suburban areas unless they are authorised and have the consent of all who work and live in the area.
IOL reported that the City, through the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), will no longer tolerate illegal closures of public streets for security reasons.
The JRA has already begun taking action – removing two pedestrian gates, four access-control points and two palisade gates in Hurlingham Manor North, deemed ‘illegal’.
JRA managing director Dr Sean Phillips told IOL that the gates did not comply with the city’s security access restriction policy of 2014. Among other things, two pedestrian gates, meant to be open at all times, had been left permanently locked.
Joburg reportedly has 383 security-access restrictions, and the JRA said it will continue to ensure compliance.
In the case of Hurlingham Manor North, the contraventions – including electronic access-control points which created the impression that the area is private and not accessible to all – were brought to the HNRA’s attention by the JRA in October last year, and they were granted 30 days to comply.
The Hurlingham North Residents’ Association (HNRA) however, argued that it was not given sufficient notice in terms of the law to remove or regularise the booms.
The association said it was awaiting clarification on whether or not it was allowed to install electronic gates, before taking any further action.
It justified the need for a facial recognition mechanism in its electronic booms, following a spate of “follow-home” robberies.
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