POLOKWANE – Westenburg residents claim that the municipal park in their community is an eyesore.
According to residents, the municipality failed to ensure that maintenance was done at the park, leaving it to look like a disaster area.
“When a person goes to other parks in the city, you will find them clean and fully facilitated.
“The municipality waters the grass at these parks to keep it green, and there are caretakers to ensure the place is clean and well looked after. There are also toilets and braai facilities available. At our park in Westenburg, there is no toilet and there is no caretaker to ensure the park is clean. There is rubbish everywhere and we also don’t have any grass,” a resident said.
Another resident added that the only facilities available at the Westenburg park, aside from the playing equipment, were benches which the municipality recently erected.
“The municipality started to put a fence around the park, but never completed this project.
“The municipality also closed the entrance of the park with a heap of sand.
“Children and their parents have to climb over the sand hill to get to the park. The street motorists use to get to the park is also full of potholes and motorists can barely drive there without damaging their vehicles,” the resident added.
Residents said it was unfair that the Polokwane Municipality maintained parks in certain areas, but neglected parks in other communities.
“We all pay for basic services, so it is the municipality’s duty to deliver. We demand toilets at our park, grass for our children to play on and for the park to be cleaned regularly.
“We also want the potholes repaired. The municipality must also finish the fencing around the park and remove the heap of sand at the entrance of the park.”
By the time of going to print the municipality could not give comment on the matter.
