ETHEKWINI Municipality has been accused of neglecting and maintaining side streets in Glenwood.
Frere Crescent resident, Merril Gouws says she has lodged numerous complaints with the municipality about a broken pavement outside her home in early March of this year.
Gouws said the municipality repaired a street light in Frere Crescent on Sunday, 4 March, however while the street light outside her home was now working, the pavement which had been dug up was left in a shocking state of disrepair and was an eyesore.
“I have been in contact with e-Services since 5 March regarding this as I am scared someone is going to fall over all the tar and rubble, and seriously hurt themselves. The cable for the street light is linked to the electricity box which houses cabling connections for my home. Should we have floods or heavy rainfall again, this will all simply wash away and expose those same cables lying across the pavement. All we ask is that once work is complete, the pavement and surrounding area is left in a safe and satisfactory condition,” she said, adding that at the end of April she had seen a municipal van stop, workers inspect the site, then drive off.
Since this incident, Gouws said a metal cover had also gone missing over a drain in her driveway forcing her to avoid the hole in the pavement when entering and leaving the property.
In another incident, Gouws said a vehicle crashed into a tree in the road, and nothing had been done by the municipality to clean up. She said the maintenance team from Glenwood High had to clear the road.
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“We see the municipality working on Bulwer Road fixing it up and cleaning, but the side roads seem to be left and seem to be unimportant,” she said.
Gouws said a municipal vehicle throwing black bags into her garden unfortunately miscalculated and hit her electric fence which broke, and despite complaints to the municipality, she and her husband who were pensioners, had to find money to repair it.
“I would like to have enough money to see a solicitor to insist the municipality pays for the repairs, but I do not have the money, and the municipality simply does not care. I am very angry with these issues and feel the services in this country are lower than the lowest in the world,” she said.
Responding to her complaints, ward councillor Mmabatho Tembe said in cases such as this, residents should email her (ward33@ethekwini.org) reference numbers so she could follow up and escalate complaints.
“This is an ongoing problem where engineering services need to finish work that was started, and departments need to communicate better so continuity can happen,” she said.
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