Family calls for unkempt stream to be cleaned
Larry Luyt said he and his family have lived in the area for 25 years and the park was his favourite place.
A MALVERN family who had to relocate following the heavy rains that destroyed their property in July, said the damage caused could have been avoided. Larry Luyt said he and his family have made numerous calls to the eThekwini Municipality, but were transferred from one department the next. Their countless attempts yielded no results.
“We just want the municipality to come at least once every six months or at least every once in a while to clean up the place. We’ve been given the run around by the municipality, bounced off from one department to the next and were told that it is not their job to maintain that area,” he explained.
The area in question is the Memorial Park on Bankhead Road which according to Luyt attracted a lot of debris which led to the flooding.”Before the rain, there already was a lot of debris in the river. More of it washed up which caused the water to fill up. I believe there would not have been so much damage had the river been cleaned. However, I am now more concerned about the repetition of this incident. What if it were to happen again?” he said.
He said he and his family have lived in the area for 25 years and the park was his favourite place to be at. “As a young man while I was still in school, I would sit at the Garden of Remembrance and would study for my exams. Today, I will not put a foot there. The garden is in remembrance of war veterans but the area is shown no respect,” said Luyt.
The family home was flooded inside and out which resulted in their car being written off. “Furniture was floating around in the house. Thank God we have insurance but it is not going to cover everything and some items were irreplaceable. We don’t want trouble, we just want the area to be taken care of regularly,” he said.
In earlier reports, Cllr Chris van Den Berg said he believed that damage could have been limited. “Although no one will confirm this, I believe that 80 per cent of storm water drains in eThekwini are blocked. These drains are not properly maintained. Yes, there was a lot of rain, but the damage should not have been to this extent,” he said.
The eThekwini Municipality urged residents with a similar problem to call the Disaster Management Centre on 031 361 0000.
