Resident calls for gym maintenance
Pensioner Peter Jackson has been trying to speed-up maintenance at the gym for more than a year.
A STATIONARY bike with no pedals is among several maintenance issues at an outdoor gym in Berea Park on Stephen Dlamini (Essenwood) Road.
After finding a ‘fitness home’ at the gym, pensioner Peter Jackson has been trying to speed-up maintenance for more than a year.
Not only do outdoor gyms offer an affordable workout to pensioners like Jackson, but the gyms also became a fitness hub during the Covid-19 lockdown which saw many private gyms shut their doors.
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“Most of the equipment was broken prior to the Covdi-19 outbreak. The majority of private gyms are expensive for pensioners and they were also closed during lockdown, but at least you could come here and exercise out in the open,” he said.
He has used the gym several times a week for the last three years.
“You can come along and do your exercises in the fresh air. I would spend 30 minutes to an hour here, meet a mate and it was good fun,” he said.
Hoping to continue using the gym, Jackson made several attempts to report maintenance issues, calling the number on the gym notice board.
“You get no joy, they transfer you from one person to another. I first called about a year ago and have since given up,” he said.
The maintenance woes at the park extend past the gym, said Jackson.
“If you bring your child to the playground, they might get lost in the long grass,” he said.
The eThekwini Municipality was not available for comment at the time of going to press.
Fitness fizzles out
In a bid to promote health and wellness, the eThekwini Municipality’s Outdoor Gym initiative was launched in 2014. By 2016, outdoor gyms have been installed in 20
parks from Glenwood to La Lucia and KwaMashu. In the same year, the Municipality announced plans to roll our gyms in all 110 wards.
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Five years later, ward 33 saw the arrival of an outdoor gym at an Umbilo public park on the corner of Ray Keyte Place and Sphiwe Zuma Avenue.
Berea Mail visited the gym in August last year, shortly after the new outdoor gym was installed, to find mixed reactions from the community. While the gym was a hit with residents, park maintenance and litter concerns cropped up as well.
Commenting on the issue, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela urged residents to report issues to the Parks Department on 031 322 4000.
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