The age-old proverb, that a good neighbour is a great blessing as much as a bad neighbour is a misfortune, seems to be playing out between two neighbours living in Erasmia.
This follows the Laudium Sun being called recently by a resident living on Party Street in Erasmia, complaining about ongoing friction involving two neighbours, which the residents say frequently disturbs peace in the area, with screaming and shouting often being heard.
Upon further investigation, the Laudium Sun learnt that there was an ongoing feud between two neighbours, with one of them, a mother of four claiming that her neighbour often harasses her children while they play outside in the yard, while the other neighbour alleges that the children make a huge noise. The mother, Martha Matshidiso Mahmood (36) of Party Street in Erasmia, told the Laudium Sun that this time, she immediately opened a case with the police, when the recent incident allegedly took place. Martha, who lives with her husband Zaheed Mahmood (40) a foreign national and their four children, aged 11, 7, 5 and 2, said that the latest incident was shocking as the neighbour pointed a gun at her children. The incident took place the previous Tuesday afternoon when her kids were playing on a jumping castle in their yard, while the husband was at work at around 2pm.
According to the mother, this is not the first time that she and her family have had problems with the neighbour, resulting in ongoing tensions which she alleges are due to racism, because she is black and the neighbours are white. Martha added, “My children were playing as usual on Tuesday, when our neighbour, a white male, started shouting at them, claiming that they were making a noise and then pointed a gun at them warning them to be quiet. We’ve been living here for four years, and this neighbour always complains about everything. This time he has gone too far, by threatening to shoot my children, I cannot accept that,” Martha said. Juliet Zimba (39), the family’s nanny, also alleged to the Laudium Sun that the neighbour often complained about the children making a noise, adding, “They don’t like the kids playing in the yard. It is not like they are playing outside in the street or in
front of the neighbour’s yard, but it still seems to be a problem for our neighbour.” When the Laudium Sun visited the neighbour’s property to get his comments on the allegations made by Martha and her nanny, home owner Johann Stockhoff denied pointing a gun at the children or threatening them in anyway. However Johann said that he was aware that his tenant had a problem with the children making a noise, adding, “The man being accused is a tenant renting a room on my property who goes by the name of Kobus. He is certainly not a violent person as I have stayed with him for a while, and I’m quite sure he doesn’t even have a gun. However I must say that the noise our neighbours children make, causes our dogs to get edgy and leads them to bark which has been frustrating for me and my wife especially because we have a four-month-old baby.” Johann added, “We have lived here for 38 years, and we’ve never had this kind of problem before. The noise is the issue not the kids themselves. There is also another problem that we have with our neighbour, which is the unbearable smell coming from their yard due to the many chickens they keep in their yard. This is not about race it’s about keeping the area clean and peaceful,” he added.
Martha remained adamant saying, “I have opened a police case and I expect them to take action. I have had enough. The police need to handle this now. This is about my children’s safety. Imagine these minors seeing a gun for the first time in their life, it was so horrific and traumatising for them and they certainly do not deserve these kinds of threats. They have been playing inside the yard without bothering anyone and now they are even scared to play in their own yard. This is unacceptable.” The Erasmia Police confirmed to the Laudium Sun that they were investigating a charge of pointing of a firearm. @Attempts to get hold of Kobus for comment were unsuccessful as each time the Laudium Sun went to the premises , Kobus was not available.