Rocklands residents are rejoicing at the sounds of construction vehicles cleaning up the dump site left behind by tikkoppe who stripped the Shoprite shopping complex to the ground since it burnt down in December last year.
Overwhelmed residents even stopped next to the abandoned building to take a paar selfies while clean-up operations commenced on Monday.
Rocklands Neighbourhood Watch member and safety activist Valerie Moses told the Daily Voice that her team worked dag en nag to put pressure on owners Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) to get the revamp started.
“We are happy about the development. For months all we heard was the knocking of bricks and structures falling.
“The smell that came from that site was also vulgar and the criminal elements it brought along with it, kept us busy,” she explains.
“Now we can see progress. There is no more smell, and the place looks cleaner.”
Valerie also praises Sefa for not reneging on their promise to start reconstruction this month.
“They said three weeks and stuck by their word. Now we just wait for them to start with construction.”
SEFA spokesperson Innocent Ndima confirms that a waste disposal company has started with the clean-up process.
“We are still waiting on demolition permit but it will happen,” Ndima adds.
Meanwhile, the owner of a nearby BP garage, Nadier Isaacs, says he is disappointed in the way the landlord had handled the process.
“The problem is, a culture of looting has now been born, and they were breaking in by the garage. The problem that [SEFA] created is now spilling over into the community. They should supply security.”