Residents ashamed of living conditions at Marloth Gardens

ASHAMED, that is how resident, Deneyse Wessels feels about the horrid living conditions at Marloth Gardens in Musgrave.

“Quite honestly, I feel ashamed living here. I don’t invite anyone to come and see me because of the condition of this place.”

As one of the longest standing residents of the Musgrave housing complex, Wessels has lived at Marloth Gardens for 40 years . She has watched the Evered Poole Place complex fall into disrepair over the decades.

“When I arrived here, the place was pristine. We never had a problem at all. If we had maintenance to be done, it was done within a day or two. Now, everything has changed. The whole place has deteriorated. The walls aren’t painted on the outside. There are broken cars left around and huge holes in the driveways,” she said.

Refuse removal is among the biggest gripes Wessels shares with her neighbours.

Fellow resident, Gwen Naude who has lived on the property for 14 years, called for a permanent groundskeeper and supervisor on the property to addressee maintenance woes.

“The filth around the complex is a concern. There are beer bottles lying around and cigarette butts all over. Nobody picks it up. There is a cleaner who comes twice a week, but they don’t collect the refuse,” she said

Also read: Complex ‘teaming’ with children in need of sport equipment

Another concern for Naude is the broken gutter down pipe outside her flat, which impacts the interior paint work in her home. Water damage is also a concern for Wessels as her garage sits below the ablution facilities at the old servants quarters. She has several buckets lined up to collect drips from her garage ceiling and paint is peeling along the damp walls of the garage.

“My garage has been leaking for three or four years now,” said Wessels

Rats the size of cats

As refuse piles up, rodents swarm to the complex and overgrown foliage presents further challenges, said resident, Amanda Sandwith.

“We have rats the size of cats around here, due to all the rubbish lying around. It doesn’t matter how many times you complain or who you complain to, no one does anything about it. No one ever comes to trim the bushes along the perimeter. There’s no upkeep at all. Over the last few months, the rat problem has gotten worse. You can see the holes where they burrow to make their nests, and nothing is don about it,”

Sandwith added that in December, a couple of children found a black mamba on the property.

“ I’m pretty sure the snake was attracted by the rats. My cat catches rats, every other day I’ve got two or three dead rats lying on my staircase,” she said.

Overgrown foliage has also caused damage to tenants vehicles,

“The branches on the perimeter of the driveway fall and smash windscreens inside the property. Tenants have nowhere else to park. There aren’t enough garages for the amount of people who have cars on the property,” said Sandwith.

Also read: Umbilo residents ‘refuse’ to live with litter

Addressing the issues

Amanda said tenants are not permitted to do their own maintenance.

“It’s part of the lease agreement. We aren’t allowed to do anything that has not been approved by council,” she said.

“These flats were built in 1943 for the returned soldiers. Later on, the flats were let to people who couldn’t afford more expensive homes,” added Wessels.

The eThekwini Municipality did not provide comment on this issue by the time of going to print.

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