VISITORS to Jameson Park have complained of the state of the once beautiful rose garden, which they say is now looking unkempt.
A resident said they recently visited Jameson Park one morning and had not seen any gardeners in sight.
“The gardens are an absolute disgrace. How do they look like this when there are seven gardeners employed five days a week? Why are we, as Durban ratepayers, paying for staff who are clearly not doing their job. I go to Jameson Park weekly and it has been slowly deteriorating. What is the plan of action for this once beautiful park?” said Sharon Jackson.
Another resident said she had written on numerous occasions about the area in front of Jameson Park and said the park was a very sorry sight.
Councillor Martin Meyer said Jameson Park had started to look a bit ‘tacky’ three years ago and was told by Parks that there was no money in the contract to buy new roses.
“The temporary decision was made to get indigenous plants as they were more weather hardy and residents did like the indigenous gardens. This was always going to be a temporary decision, and some roses were brought back to the park last year. I’m not a plant fundi, but roses are thirsty plants and are hard to maintain. I did ask Garth Kloppenborg about the state of the park, and he said the roses were still in the growing phase and they were working on it. I feel the history of the rose garden must be taken into consideration and feel we need to sit down and get an idea of what to do so there are long term benefits for the garden. I do invite residents to contact me and give me some advice,” he said.
Meyer said issues at the park had been raised with the Parks Department. One of these was the fact that the fountain had been empty for a while, and Meyer said this needed to be fixed.
” I also reported, in May, that there was water gushing from a meter and in June tape was put around the area, but nothing has been done since. There is also another hole where there is water gushing through. There is also a vagrancy problem. I am not sure how this is allowed to happen, as the gates are closed at night and there is a guard. I reported this to Parks, but am not sure what has been done to enforce this,” he said.
Meyer said there were also no fittings on the light poles in the park.
“I know renting of the park for weddings is done by the Mitchell Park Trust, but they don’t contribute to the maintenance of the park. This is one of the better used parks in the area and it is always busy. We had to start working on the idea of this being a ‘dog park’ after Jabulani Mdiniso left the department, and have been in discussion with Garth Kloppenborg, who is keen to take up this project,” he said.
No response from the municipality was received at time of going to print.
