Joyce Britz contacted the metro several times to report the tree she believes is causing the wall to lean over in Fifth Avenue, Geduld.
The roots of the tree are lifting the sidewalk as well as the cement and tar in her driveway.
Before her late husband Harry Britz died, he replaced the cement to prevent pedestrians from tripping and hurting themselves.
Now Britz has no one to assist her with the problem and she cannot put up a wall at the front of her property.
She was given a reference number when she reported the tree and claims she visited the metro parks department twice, to report the large tree.
The first time was in July, and she visited again two weeks ago.
“We only realised the severity of the problem when a palisade fence was erected last year,” says Britz.
In the meantime she had to have the fence removed as she couldn’t close the gate properly.
The brick wall between her and one of her neighbours is leaning dangerously over to the left of her house.
Britz says over the past years the metro regularly pruned the trees, but the tree hasn’t been pruned for a long time.
Although the pruning of the tree has nothing to do with the roots and the problems it is causing, she still feels the metro would at least have noticed the roots if they had come to prune the trees.
In some places the roots are growing on top of the ground where there is no paving visible any more.
“Where do we go when we report complaints to the metro and they don’t respond?” she asks.
Britz has been living in this house for the past 36 years and has already removed two trees on her property to try and solve the problem of erecting a wall.
However, now she feels the metro need to remove the tree which prevents her from closing her the gates to her property.
No comment was received from the metro at the time of going to print.
