Residents want rubble removed

RESIDENTS in Peter Mokaba Road want action from the municipality in clearing up rubble which was dumped on the side of their road in April.

According to Robbie Burns, numerous emails have been going between the ward councillor, Martin Meyer, and others in the municipality, trying to get the illegally dumped rubble removed from the front of the buildings and the potholes repaired in this section of Peter Mokaba Road.

Burns said residents had woken up one morning six months ago to find the rubble dumped along the roadside and down the bank, and the next day he had received a call from a tenant to say a tip truck was in the process of offloading more rubble.

“I stopped the vehicle and spoke to the man who said he was a contractor hired by someone who lived down the road. I sent the details of the vehicle to Councillor Meyer and the Metro Police and was told the resident had been found and made to pay a R3 500 fine. I was told the rubble would be removed. A payloader arrived to remove some of the rubble three months ago, but the remainder still lies where it was dumped and probably will do so for who knows how long,” he said.

Another resident, Jill Van Den Berg, said the rest of the rubble needed to be removed and the pavement levelled and restored to be used for parking.

“The remaining rubble gives the message that this is an accepted dumping site and on 6 October, to our great consternation, another dump of paint tins and builders’ detritus was made. Why this has been chosen as a dumping site ongoing, in a residential area, boggles the mind. This need to be attended to, to disabuse this erroneous thinking that this is a dumping site and to ensure signs go up to indicate this, as the verge is used for parking cars,” she said.

The residents said prior to this, a few years ago they had met with the councillor to discuss the condition of the road, which Burns said has been an issue for 30 years. He also mentioned that the overgrown bush was a safety issue.

“The overgrown bush that runs between Peter Mokaba Road and Burman Drive serves as an escape route and a hiding place for car thieves and hijackers. In the past few weeks we have had two vehicles stolen from outside the building and last Thursday at 10am in broad daylight an estate agent was held up at knifepoint and demanded that he hand over the keys. The overhanging branches encroach onto both roads and are hazardous and dangerous and an accident is waiting to happen. The lower end of Peter Mokaba Road is too narrow for roadside parking and some major renovation of the road works need attention,” he said.

He said the residents in the road are ratepayers and, like all others, deserve the road to be maintained in the same condition as all other roads in the area.

“We want the road completely resurfaced, painted and verges revamped, similar to what was done recently to Riverside Road. This would never happen on one of the more well-known roads such as Musgrave or Essenwood,” said Burns.

Responding to these complaints, Councillor Meyer told Berea Mail this seems to be a shared problem between DSW and the Roads Department.

“It also shows the ‘Broken Window Complex’ that we have to be so vigilant about. When building rubble or rubble from the Roads Department is left, people seem to immediately think they can dump their own rubbish there too. I have notified these two departments,” he said.

Meyer said residents are to be vigilant and take pictures when people illegally dump rubbish.

“The picture must also show the registration number. DSW’s enforcement wing can then trace the vehicle and fine the offender,” he said.