Follow-up: Budget constraints limit maintenance for Eastleigh Spruit and bridge

In response to allegations raised by an Eastleigh business that the City of Ekurhuleni is in contravention of a 2017 court order, the city pointed out that it has improved a section of the servitude in question but is limited by budgetary constraints.

Businesses Propshaft Master and Metalen recently stated that the municipality was in contravention of a court order following a lack of maintenance and upkeep of the Eastleigh Spruit, near and around Plantation Road Bridge.

This comes after the Gauteng Johannesburg High Court ruled in favour of the companies in 2017.

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The court ordered the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to clean and clear any debris in the culverts beneath Plantation Road Bridge, remove rubble and vegetation and take all reasonable steps to prevent the culverts from becoming blocked or the flow of water being blocked.

The municipality was also instructed to remediate and rehabilitate the riverbed. They were told to put in place any other measures to prevent and mitigate any flooding of the businesses’ properties.

Speaking about what improvements the city had made to the servitude, CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said a retaining wall was built.

“A concrete channel was constructed to divert water away from Propshaft Master and these measures are successful,” said Dlamini.

Responding to the businesses’ concerns regarding the maintenance of the servitude near and around Plantation Road Bridge, Zweli said the municipality does inspections on streams and rivers and takes action where necessary.

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“Maintenance is done when the need arises, for example when a tree has fallen in the river,” said Dlamini.

“Maintenance is done by municipal staff where possible. In severe cases we make use of contractors with specialised equipment.”

When Bedfordview and Edenvale News met with representatives from the companies at Plantation Road, in March, debris, sand and a variety of other items could be seen in the servitude specifically under the bridge.
A concrete beam could be seen on the Eastern side of the bridge.

In the city’s April 3 response, Dlamini said the city was arranging for a tractor-loader backhoe (TLB) to remove the piece of concrete from the stream.

When questioned whether the city has the budget to maintain, clean, clear and preserve Edenvale’s river system, Dlamini stated that the city suffers under budget constraints.

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He said the Edenvale depot has no funds available for stormwater maintenance.

When asked for information about potential upgrades to the Eastleigh Spruit, the addition of potential attenuation dams in Hurlyvale, and improvements to the river system as a whole, Dlamini said there were none that he was aware of that were planned.

Again the reason provided by the city was due to budget constraints.