CABBAGE BANDIT: VILLAIN OR HERO?

THIS could be a case study where by-laws may be reconsidered on using the roadside for “fruitful endeavours”.

He gave himself the moniker “The Cabbage Bandit”, and now Joe “Djo” Nkuna is going to court to contest a fine the Tshwane Metro Police Department gave him for his roadside vegetable patch.

On social media, Nkuna has described how he has “become a criminal”, was fined R1 500 and told to get rid of the cabbages, pumpkins and other vegetables growing on the corner outside his property in the northern Pretoria suburb of Theresa Park.

“Let the court decide; maybe we can change this apartheid law,” he announced with reference to municipal by-laws that allow the planting of grass on the city’s verges, but not veggies.

Nkuna said he started his vegetable patch in 2019 to support his wife’s charity work in Soshanguve, and he also planted mealies, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and other crops at a nearby park to meet demand. A city official has been quoted as suggesting that Nkuna’s motives are not as pure as he makes them out to be, implying he may be involved in land grabbing and selling vegetables for profit.

Be that as it may, he appears to be courteous to the Tshwane Metro Police Department officials who fine him, and he has received widespread support, with some on social media agreeing that municipal by-laws are antiquated and that vegetable gardens that provide food for the hungry are “decolonial work” that should be widely adopted.

Tshwane member of the mayoral committee for community safety, Karen Meyer, confirmed that a complaint about Nkuna’s vegetable garden, which spans the entire pavement, had been received and investigated. She said that under the city’s by-laws, the road reserve belonged to the municipality, and permission was required before one could make changes to it.

Nkuna is not the first to make such a garden: radio personality David O’Sullivan was among some Joburg residents who turned areas outside their homes into community vegetable patches in the early days of the pandemic. We welcome the matter going to court as this should provide a case study on where by-laws may be reconsidered to allow this type of endeavour in a well-managed manner.