RESIDENTS in Hillary are fed up with the city and the lack of services they feel should be their due as rate payers.
Larry Luyt met with the Queensburgh News last week on a walk-about where he pointed out various problems which he said should be attended to by municipal departments.
Bankhead Road
Earlier this year Sean Lally, who also lives in the area alongside the drainage channel adjacent to Bankhead Road expressed how frustrated he was with the unsafe and filthy stream directing water drained from all over the suburb into the storm-water system.
“There are piles of rubble left for months after a broken water pipe or a sinkhole in the road is repaired.”
The residents said some of the rubble had been cleared last week. “There is still lots that hasn’t been cleaned up though,” said Luyt indicating the remnants of rubble on the verges of Bankhead Road. Luyt said the community had bandied together to fix some of the problems but were limited.
“We are encouraged to arrange community clean-ups, which we have done in the past, but really, why should it be up to us to do what we, as ratepayers pay the city for?”
Councillor
What’s more according to Luyt, several trees are infested with white ants making them vulnerable to breakage. Ward 65 councillor, Samantha Windvogel called the problem of service delivery ‘a humongous problem’.
The streetlights are also a bone of contention for the residents as well as the overhanging bushes further up the road which forces buses to drive contraflow posing a hazard to other road users and pedestrians.
“We are told the matter will be seen to, but in the meantime, those branches continue to prevent the buses from being able to stay in their lane and the pedestrians and other road users are not able to see properly due to the street lights no working,” said Luyt despondently.
Other issues including the presence of several abandoned and derelict houses in the area where people illegally dump their rubbish, and water collected in old swimming pools, are just two more of the many issues these residents are fighting with the city to solve. “We are at our wits’ end,” said Lally. “I sometimes wonder if we have to blockade off the road and protest by burning things the way other communities do when their service delivery issues are not addressed,” he said.
City responds
eThekwini municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela responded to the Queensburgh News.
“A team from the relevant unit will investigate. If this is found to be true, the team will attempt to trace the origin of the construction rubble. The culprits will be fined and ordered to remove the soil and stones,” he said.
Regarding the white ant infested trees Mayisela said the city would alert the parks department. “The matter will be investigated by the Electricity Department and a team will be sent out to repair the lights,” he said.
Street lights
Mayisela said the city advises residents to report faulty street lights by calling 0801 313111.
“Relevant information should include the name of the street or closest address to the street light pole, the light pole number and a description of the fault,” he said.
“Residents should obtain a fault reference number from the operator when they finish logging a fault. This can be used to track the status of the query and all related remedial activities,” he explained.
Mayisela reiterated that the city was fighting a major battle against cable theft.
“Cable theft is a major challenge as millions of Rands are lost. Business owners also suffer a great loss in production and profit while household consumers suffer damages to electrical appliances and food spoils. The dark and poorly lit roads can lead to fatalities and a guise for criminals to operate,” he said adding a warning to criminals that besides obtaining a jail sentence for stealing cable, the activity was also life- threatening.
“Residents are urged to report cable theft by contacting the contact centre or the SAPS,” he said.
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