Troyeville residents are tired of waiting for service delivery

Troyeville residents took to the streets on March 21 to clean up their streets as they are tired of waiting for City Parks to cut overgrown grass and weeds.

The ward 66 councillor, Clr Carlos da Rocha, expressed his disappointment and accused the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) of lack of service delivery.

“It is indeed a sad day when the residents of my ward resort to cutting the grass themselves out of desperation, because the CoJ does not perform,” said Clr Da Rocha.

“These residents, out of concern for safety and the general conditions of their suburb, eventually decided to clean up around the flats where they live,” he said.

Clr Da Rocha said, “It is not acceptable that as a community, with me included, have to resort to these actions. I commend my residents for doing this and I truly support them. I am proud of them as well, but at the end of the day, we still need parks to do their job.”

Clr Da Rocha said he was disgusted at the service levels the city council is providing.

“I don’t only mean this as a ward councillor, but also as a resident and as a rate payer. It is time that changes are made and non performing departments answer for non-performance and substandard work done,” said Clr Da Rocha.

Clr Da Rocha said even where parks has cut the grass; they either leave a mess or the job is not done properly.

“I have had to go around to see and report the substandard job done by the contractors,” he said.

Ms Jenny Moodley, of City Parks, said there is a turn-around time for such things.

“If one team cuts the grass, another team will come and remove it. It is much more cost effective to have different teams instead of having one team cutting the grass and collecting it at the same time. The turn around time for collection after cutting is seven working days,” she said.

Ms Moodley urged ward councillors to encourage their residents to clean and maintain their side walks where they can.