AN uMhlanga resident expressed concern last week Tuesday regarding what she called ‘the destruction of indigenous trees‘ along the M4 off Lighthouse Road. However, authorities have insisted that no indigenous trees were culled in the area.
Michelle Eriksson said she was horrified by the ‘willy-nilly’ culling by Department of Transport employees last week. According to her, the workers had hacked down dozens of indigenous trees. The group had been cutting trees and vegetation along the highway since Thursday, 4 June.
“It is absolutely terrible, as we only have a few indigenous trees left in uMhlanga. It is unacceptable that people are simply hacking down these trees without having any idea what species they are,” she said.Eriksson said she had confronted the workers, but they denied cutting any indigenous trees.
When the Northglen News investigated the issue, one of the workers also denied the accusation and insisted they were only cutting alien trees. The employee, who did not want to be named, said they had been contracted to trim the vegetation along the busy road to discourage vagrants from using the small pocket of bush.
Richard Edwards, the chairman of the Umhlanga Manors Homeowners’ Forum, said the majority of the local community was in favour of the stretch of bush to be cleared due to the issue of vagrants and criminal activity in the area. “The Department of Transport was requested to undertake the required work. One of the primary reasons for this was due to the continual sighting and presence of vagrants seen entering and leaving the bush, and smoke emanating through the tree tops. This bush was certainly seen as a criminal springboard, contributing to the crime activity in the greater uMhlanga area,” he said.
According to Edwards, the forum requested that horticulturist, Frank Hull, inspect the area, following Eriksson’s claims. “The foreman, emphatically assured us that not a single indigenous tree was touched or cut down by them. He was very informed regarding the alien trees that he was removing, and mentioned many of them by name,” he said.
The chairman added that during an inspection of the site, Hull was also able to confirm that only alien vegetation had been cleared at the site – including Brazilian Pepper Trees, Syringa Trees and Bugweed – all of which are classified as category one alien vegetation. Hull was also able to confirm that the indigenous vegetation, which includes Plum Trees, Crysanthemaides, Wild Banana Trees, Acacias, Flat Crown Trees and Mahogany Trees, was left untouched by the team.
The cleaning process unearthed dozens of wallets which had been discarded in the bush. Sleeping ‘camps’ constructed with cardboard and plastic sheeting were also discovered.
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