There is a lot said these days about the environment we live in. How we humans are ever encroaching on the pristine surroundings we once had. It seems though, that the average person has no interest in doing anything about helping to prevent further loss.
Our Johannesburg municipality is perhaps the worst culprit in this problem. It is a well-known fact that if one lives in a clean and tidy environment this impacts on how one treats other people and where one lives – the environment.
Midrand Reporter’s front page article, Leafy Mayhem on Dale Road, week ending 27 September, shows just how bad our environment is looked after by Johannesburg’s parks and roads departments. Trees falling on a car is quite a shocking experience for any person driving down the road.
There is another place where I am sure a similar situation will happen if something is not done about it.
The Old Johannesburg Main Road between Olifantsfontein and New Roads is a disgrace in many ways. The municipality has got their priorities muddled up as usual. Someone got the idea that people should be made welcome with a garden and notice, Welcome to Midrand. I hate to think how much this cost. There were at least 10 labourers present for two weeks – paving; round stones; instant lawn grass; red poles for some reason I cannot see the purpose of; the large sign “Welcome to Midrand” in the middle; around all this many small bollards displaying Johannesburg’s attractions, for example The Zoo, which is not in Midrand.
Local people have decided that eating their lunch here is a good idea, too. The stones are already being knocked into a very busy intersection and the inevitable weeds are growing. If the municipality really thought about welcoming visitors, a general clean up would have been so much better – and less costly.
