Pitch dark makes it easy for thief

Blanchville was given a lollipop and told to sit down and keep quiet.

Municipal workers started cutting grass, but the street lights have not been fixed yet.
Ms Anneke Basson said she asked the municipality more than once to fix the street lights in Libertas- and Beit Streets.

All her efforts to get the municipality to fix the street lights were in vain and she blames the municipality for the incident wherein her son was robbed.

On April 23 at 02:00 Mr André Basson (26) returned from work. As he entered their yard from Libertas Street, a man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his workbag.

“An unknown man waited for André and he could easily hide because it is so dark in the whole of Libertas Street. As André was about to open the second gate leading to his flat, the man opened his car door grabbed his bag and ran away.”

Basson said it could have been so much worse.

“Thank God the man only grabbed André’s bag. What if he shot or stabbed my son?”

WITBANK NEWS did an article on the deterioration of the suburb on March 31.

Overgrown sidewalks and parks, streetlights not working, potholes and also the bridge in Second Street that were washed away in March 2016 all play a huge part in the neglect of the suburb.

A week after the article Mr Deon Botha from Schonland Colliery who has a guesthouse in Gordon Road took it upon himself to clean the intersection on the corner of Gordon Road and Second Street.

On Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30 he took a volunteer group from Vosman and they spent two days cleaning up the sidewalks, the islands and the post office in Gordon Road.
Over the weekend of April 15 municipal workers were seen cutting stretches of grass. But there still is a lot to be cut.

The question of the streetlights not working was never answered by the municipality.
Mr Kingdom Mabuza said he was waiting for officials responsible for directorates tasked with issues raised, to respond. Nothing happened yet.

Even the ward councillor for ward 20, under which Blanchville falls, said he also sits with his hands in his hair because even if he reports these issues nothing gets done from the municipality’s side.

ALSO READ:

https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/89427/municipalitys-orphan-child-neglected/

https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/82847/blancheville-brug-moet-nog-bietjie-wag/