Residents of Bela-Bela are up in arms with poor service delivery in their town
Many a rate payer had the misfortune of either refuse removal that was not done, or the water supply being interrupted for days on end or electrical problems not being adhered to.
This is a public space opposite the Nuwe Lewe Church in Apiesdoring Street. The weekly schedules refuse removal was not collected for consecutive weeks and was pilfered by destitute people. The municipality has not paid any attention to numerous reports to rectify the situation.
The roads are in a sorry state and littering is rife and are swamping the residents of this once beautiful holiday destination.
The sewerage system is not maintained and rate payers have called for help from various political parties to obtain help from provincial departments to alleviate their problems.
The Post’s photographer, Herman Steyn, went on a fact finding mission with his camera this week and this is what he found regarding refuse in our town:
The side walk in Van der Merwe Street is littered with garbage. The bags containing the refuse has deteriorated over time and the refuse is causing an obstruction for pedestrians.
The Rusoord Old Age Home in Bela-Bela is at their tether. The back entrance to their facility, where ambulances stop to collect patients, is filled with uncollected refuse bags from the houses opposite the street. People walking on the sidewalk have to divert and face traffic on the broken tarmac of the street. This is not only unsightly and inconvenient to pedestrians, it is a health risk to the already frail people staying in the old age home.
Where once was a small park on the corner of Minnaar Street and Pretoria Road where people could catch their breath in the shade of the old acacia trees in the blazing hot summers, is now a dumping site and the trees have been looted by homeless people for firewood. The Post published a photo last week of a man chopping down branches of one of these trees in broad day light.
This photo was taken opposite the Apostolic Church at Bospoort. The uncollected refuse bags has been there for a number of weeks and is unsightly. The municipality’s call centre was called on numerous occasions to report this worsening situation, but to no avail.
