WHILE Lacey Road residents have to contend with the growing pile of rubbish that surrounds them, Ward 31 Councillor, Chris Pappas confirmed that Durban Solid Waste did collect rubbish once a week from the two dedicated collections points on Randles Road and Lacey Road.
“The problem is twofold. Firstly, residents of Lacey Road put their rubbish out on any day and thus there is a constant pile as opposed to other areas who only put their rubbish out on collection day. Secondly, there are people from outside the settlement who are using this spot to dump all kinds of rubbish including beds and fridges. They are avoiding having to pay at the DSW dump,” said Pappas.
Pappas conceded that a vegetable garden, which was initiated by former ward councillor Jethro Lefevre, should be developed further but that aside from himself, no one else outside the Lacey Road community was driving the project. “We have met with Radical Agrarian Socio-Economic Transformation officials (RASET) to discuss how we can make the agricultural programme more of a commercial venture rather than a subsistance project. The RASET department has committed to helping with tools, finance and equipment where possible,” he said.
Earlier this year, the department of Water and Sanitation erected new ablution facilities at the informal settlement. According to Pappas, he had explored the possibility of installation of solar geysers and had found a sponsor. “The community decided that this would not be a good idea because it would cause tension between community members over the limited supply of hot water. There are many people and no normal sized geyser would be sufficient. It would have to be an industrial sized geyser,” he said.
“We are working towards allocating housing through a national grant. However, it is difficult to make progress because every time we get to a certain point in the development, more people move into the area and this makes it difficult to get a solid count for the provision of houses. Only 142 houses can be built on the land that the settlement currently occupies. In the near future we will be holding a meeting with the people of Lacey Road to inform them that we can only work towards providing homes if they, as a community, stop the extensions and growth of the settlement,”
“A meeting was also held with the community in May at which a representative from the Mayors office was present. However, we have not heard back from the mayor's office since that meeting. Some of the requests were very simple but there has been no feedback,” he said.
