Obey fireworks by-laws, residents told
People who celebrate the new year with a fiery explosion of fireworks had better be careful.
|||Johannesburg - People who celebrate the new year with a fiery explosion of fireworks had better be careful - either you follow the by-laws or prepare to face fines of between R500 and R1 500.
The City of Joburg intends ensuring that residents don't traumatise animals and young children during the celebrations.
Not only has the city put laws in place, laws that best be observed, but it will have patrolling metro police officers checking to see that they are adhered to.
Joburg metro police spokesman Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said fireworks were not supposed to be ignited near children or animals.
Children are not allowed to use them without supervision and usage is restricted to between 11pm on Thursday and 1am on New Year’s Day.
People can then light them again from 7pm to 11pm on January 1.
Those lighting fireworks should always have a bucket of water nearby in case a fire breaks out if they malfunction, he said.
Lighting fireworks outside the given time would result in “a R500 per offence penalty”, said Minnaar.
Street vendors are not allowed to sell firecrackers, and those dealers who are allowed to could face penalties should it be found they don't comply with the law.
Minnaar said dealers needed to have licences to sell firecrackers.
Another important thing was that firecrackers have to be stored according to regulations, or it could lead to fires. Should dealers not comply, they could be fined R1 500.
Vinson Wang, a Chinese national who is also telecommunication company Huawei’s account director, said he was well aware of the associated problems as he comes from a country that manufactures firecrackers and constantly uses them.
He said a factory manufacturing firecrackers in China exploded a few days ago, killing two workers.
Wang said that could be attributed to the fact that many such factories in China operated illegally, selling products of poor quality.
When adding bad storage, things tend to be disastrous, as was evident when a fire recently broke out.
However, Wang said that if there was a lesson the Chinese could learn from South Africa it was the law which disallowed children from igniting firecrackers without adult supervision.
In China, he said, many children lost their eyesight or were badly injured because they are allowed to buy firecrackers and ignite them without adult supervision.
The MMC for community safety in the City of Joburg, Sello Lemao, said it was obvious that some people may not be aware of the by-laws.
However, he said they were not trying to be punitive in their approach, but wanted people to be aware of the laws and comply.
Minnaar said people should try to manage themselves on the matter of fireworks so that the police did not have to be involved.
“Fireworks need to be used so as not to cause trauma to animals and young children. If they cause a disturbance and the noise is unbearable, the metro police might have to respond,” he said.
The Star