Residents of Jukskei Park will be slapping Gumede with a petition on 1 July, a date when the new ombudsman is scheduled to start accepting complaints from residents.
This ombudsman’s office came to life this year on 1 April and will start taking complaints from residents from 1 July.
Andre de Bruyn, chairman of Jukskei Park Residents’ Association said they will petition the council to maintain and fix the river banks of Jukskei River. De Bruyn is encouraging residents of Jukskei Park to visit their nearby Pick n Pay store to sign the petition.
“We want 3 000 residents in Jukskei Park to sign the petition. We will then take it to the newly-appointed ombudsman who starts on 1 July,” said De Bruyn in a written communication to Fourways Review.
De Bruyn alleged that the riverbanks were breaking due to lack of maintenance. He added that the bridge on Platina Street, which was damaged in February due to flooding, has not yet been repaired.
De Bruyn warned that the park in Galeniet Street was washing away trees and pipes – a situation he said has the potential to damage the nearby road within the next 24 hours.
“The two houses in Juweel Street have a R344 000 damage bill because the drainage system down Leslie Avenue cannot handle the amount of water that comes down the road,” fumed De Bruyn.
“If the council had cut down the tree and cleaned the park and just done regular maintenance, the houses would not have been flooded,” he said.
Joburg Roads Agency spokesperson, Bertha Peters-Scheepers, had not yet responded to questions e-mailed to her by the time of publication.
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