ETHEKWINI Municipality’s Parks Department is being called upon to take on more responsibility for the maintenance of parks in wards 31 and 25.
Councillors Chris Pappas and Hassan Haniff claim the general state of parks across both wards and in other parts of the city have for a number of years been in decline.
They said broken bollards, rusty and broken play equipment, faulty lights, and other general maintenance issues were severely lacking.
“Many street lights have disappeared in the unpruned trees of the Berea.”
“Of equal concern is the replacement of trees that have died or fallen down. A once lush green area is slowly losing its forest feel,” said Pappas.
He said he had done ann online poll which revealed that only 41 per cent of the community actively used local parks.
Pappas attributed this to the poor state of many parks as well as their general state of cleanliness and safety issues.
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According to Haniff, the Parks Department has a shortage of staff, vehicles and supervisors.
He made the example of there only being one tree cutting team and vehicle for the whole of District 7 which stretches from Wentworth to the Umgeni River.
“Basic work is not being done. We cannot blame our district officials as the problem lies much higher with those allocating budgets and coming up with the PRC strategy,” said Haniff.
“We need to create safe, clean, and functional spaces. Our parks must be centers of community activity. They must be our green lungs where our children are safe to play free from broken bottles, drug dealers and muggings,” said Pappas.
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