Who exactly is Tshwane’s pavement vegetable planter?

PRETORIA: The so-called “Cabbage Bandit” – Tshwane resident Djo BaNkuna – this week became an instant hero for his defiance after police fined him for planting vegetables on the pavement in front of his house.

BaNkuna had taken to Facebook to detail that Tshwane Metro Police Department officers threatened him with arrest for the vegetable garden on the pavement in front of his Theresapark property in Pretoria North.

The metro police have since given him a R1 500 fine after he refused to remove the vegetable garden.

For most of the week, sympathisers accused the metro police of being harsh and unreasonable in dealing with the matters. But who exactly is the “Cabbage Bandit”?

BaNkuna is a 47-year-old businessman born and raised in Tzaneen, Limpopo. He has a Masters degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Sussex in the UK. He also studied political sciences at the Wits University and did management courses at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

He said he created the garden to assist his social worker wife so she could provide for impoverished people.

BaNkuna started growing the vegetables three years ago. He said when he grabbed the 600m² of overgrown street pavement and planted food, his neighbours started laughing, thinking that he had gone mad.

“Now I feed them at R10 per hand. I smile each time they pay me. Their laughter is my fertiliser,” he said.

BaNkuna has received overwhelming support, especially on social media.

A page was created by gardeners on Facebook called Djo BaNkuna Support Group, which now has 2 500 members rallying behind the “urban farmer”.

Black First Land First, also among his supporters, said the Tshwane metro police, at the behest of the municipality, were involved in unethical behaviour by harassing BaNkuna.

The political party also wrote to Tshwane mayor Randall Williams demanding that BaNkuna be left alone.

One SA leader Mmusi Maimane also called slammed the City’s police on the matter. “What a waste of police resources. We have serious crimes happening daily in this country. Bullying this man for planting cabbages is preposterous,” Maimane said.

BaNkuna also has a home music studio where he offers lessons to children as young as 10 for free.

“I dedicate at least five hours of my time on Saturdays teaching children how to write songs and use studio equipment.”

BaNkuna is expected to appear before the Wonderboom Municipal Court on November 23 for his refusal to pay the fine issued to him.

Tshwane metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said: “We do not discriminate in the enforcement of law. We seek to enforce all laws equally in the city and ensure that when complaints are received, we respond to them.”

He said on September 9, a complaint was received in relation to the use of a road reserve. The officers identified BaNkuna as using a public road reserve to grow an array of crops. He was issued a verbal warning and told to comply with the regulations pertaining to the use of road reserves. He did comply, said Mahamba.

Subsequently, he was issued with a fine of R1 500, in terms of the Road Traffic Act 96 of 1996, as he was obstructing a sidewalk and space reserved for pedestrians.