A couple in Fifth Avenue, Geduld can finally breathe after the metro cleared the tree branch that fell on the fence and into the property leaving them unable to use the pedestrian gate.
Francois Grundling and his finace Annelize Olivier say the old tree on the pavement cracked and the one branch fell into their yard on November 16.
“It was a mission to get the metro to come and cut the tree and we couldn’t even use our gate to gain entry to the property,” says Grundling.
He claims they have been contacting the metro for months on end to complain about the old tree which they were scared might fall over.
“I had to remove some of the branches to be able to gain entry through the big gate,” he says.
Then on November 23, when the metro finally arrived after numerous calls, they only cut the branches into blocks and left the rest as it was.
“We could still not use our gate and the logs were left behind by the metro,” he says.
At one stage an unmarked vehicle stopped and the driver asked if they could have the cut logs and removed some of the logs.
Grundling says the inconvenience caused by the fallen tree branch could have been prevented if the metro regularly checked the condition of the trees and pruned them.
After each call, the metro apparently promised Grundling as well as the property owner At du Plessis, they would come the next day and then the following day, but they never came to remove the cut logs.
Du Plessis says the metro came out to clean up the mess on November 29.
“We are grateful they finally came to clean the place properly,” he says.
Du Plessis says the fence wasn’t damaged severely – only some of the tops of the palisades were slightly bent.
