TENSIONS have mounted at the KwaMathambo Informal Settlement after a seven-year-old boy was injured in an alleged hit-and-run accident just outside the settlement on Saturday, 26 May.
This, said residents, was the fourth incident in the last two years. Last year a 67-year-old woman died after she was run over by a car while sleeping on a pile of tires next to the road.
A lack of perceived action from the municipality has elicited feelings of frustration and anger from the residents, who are now demanding that speed bumps be built along Old North Coast Road, near the settlement.
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They have also asked for the municipality to set aside a piece of land on which a safe play area can be built for the children at the settlement.
They have threatened to burn rubbish and block the road should their pleas be ignored.
The boy, whose name is known to the Northglen News was still recovering in hospital when the journalist, Mariclair Smit visited the community on Tuesday last week.
He had reportedly suffered a broken leg and a broken hip.
His family declined to comment.
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“We have asked for speed bumps before, but there is always talk. Nobody cares or does anything,” said a community representative, Nomusa Makhumalo.
“It is extremely dangerous here. As there is nowhere safe for our children to play. And even for the grown ups, we have to cross the road to dispose of the rubbish. Cars are always speeding up and down the road here,” she said.
“It has been a long time and we are tired of waiting. We do not want another person to die!” she added.
Ward councillor, Bobby Maharajh said he had in the past requested that speed bumps be built along the road, but said the municipality had declined the proposal. However, he said in light of the recent incident he would once again petition for the request.
He said he had also spent a great deal of time traversing the road in search of an ideal piece of land that could be donated to the community for a play area for the children, but had not been able to find anything suitable.
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“While I feel for the child and his parents I must admit that this was an accident waiting to happen. I have chased children out of the street outside the settlement more times than I care to remember, and despite my warnings residents also continue to build their homes on the pavement. On numerous occasions I have seen some of the residents intoxicated by the roadside. I appeal to the community to take some responsibility for their own safety,” he said.
eThekwini Transport Authority head, Eugene Naidoo, confirmed that a request for speed bumps had been logged in March 2017, however after an assessment had been done it was found that the road did not meet the requirements for traffic calming measures. However, he said the request would now be “reassessed in terms of the City’s Traffic Calming Policy”.
Spokesperson for the Greenwood Park Police Station, Sergeant Vincent Mthembu, confirmed that the accident had been reported.
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