Watch: Fed-up with poor roads, KwaDukuza man plants banana trees in potholes
"Whenever you see a pothole plant a tree, preferably a banana tree as our town is now becoming a banana republic" - Rishi Pooran.
An irate KwaDukuza resident has turned his street’s potholes into productive farmland.
In frustration at the inaction of KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) to fill up the huge potholes in his neighbourhood, a fed-up Rishi Pooran planted banana trees in the potholes that have developed in the middle of the busy street near his home in Glenhills.
And he has encouraged others to follow suit in their neighbourhoods and has been posting on social media to draw attention to the poor state of the roads.
According to Pooran the street has also been plagued with water leaks which have contributed to the damaged road surface, apparently caused by a burst water pipe.
After months of waiting for the municipality to fix the potholes, Pooran took matters in his own hands.
“This is my challenge to all residents who are sick and tired of the poor service delivery by KDM and iLembe District municipality. Our municipality did the Jerusalema challenge so this is my challenge. Whenever you see a pothole plant a tree, preferably a banana tree as our town is now becoming a banana republic. Lets not sit back because our officials from the municipality they don’t drive in our areas. They live in estates and do not know the condition of our roads. Once they find all of these trees in all of the potholes maybe someone will take action,” said Pooran.
Having lived in this neighborhood for more than 20 years, Pooran said he and others have only grown more frustrated as the potholes grow wider and wider.
“We have been left high and dry, and it seems to be up to us to do something about it. Maybe this will get the officials to take notice,” said Pooran.
https://www.facebook.com/rishi.pooran/videos/3236846009746104
KDM spokesperson Sipho Mkize responded:
“Following reports that emanated from a social media post, our technicians and myself visited the affected areas and our findings were that there are burst pipes that the district municipality needs to fix before we can attempt to do any works.
“The matter was not reported to us as KwaDukuza Municipality, so we wish to desist any suggestion that says we were told and kept quiet. We wish to place it on record that other potholes where there is no burst pipe issues have been attended to in the same community.
“Our technicians are already in discussion with iLembe to fix this problem.
“Whilst we understand that our communities are restless when it comes to such problems, we also wish for members of the community to refrain from installing objects in potholes. They should report the matter to Civil Engineering so that proper hording can be installed instead of installing objects that exacerbate the problem and can lead to fatalities,” said Mkhize.
