DURBAN - Residents in Manor Gardens are demanding answers from the eThekwini Municipality after the appearance recently of a cellphone mast in Clair Avenue.
They believe that it is partly the duty of the city to protect them, and say that their concerns about the health and safety implications of the mast have fallen on deaf ears.
Ivor Rickson said he had been a resident of Manor Gardens for many years and had family living in other areas of the leafy suburb. The mast is just a few metres from his property. He said a camera mounted on the mast pointed directly into his backyard.
“This is an invasion of our privacy. The camera looks into my pool area at the back of my yard,” he said.
Rickson said he had noticed a massive hole in the ground where the mast now stands.
“A few residents and I asked workers what was going on and we were told that the city had given the go-ahead for the mast. Officials from the council’s disaster management unit spoke to residents and said they would not continue with work because we had disputed the matter.
Cement
“A few days later, we saw three cement trucks had arrived to pour the concrete,” Rickson said.
He said he and other residents, including Graham McCallum, tried to stop the trucks and police were called.
“We were told that we would be arrested if we interfered.
“Even our ward councillor was threatened and we have witnesses who can attest to that. We were told we would be charged for the cement in the trucks if we tried to stop them from working.
“Residents were eventually held back while they poured the cement. When my wife tried to speak to the police officer, she was told that he would not deal with women,” Rickson said.
McCallum explained that Manor Gardens was known for its trees, bird life and vervet monkey population, and an environmental test should have been done before the mast went up.
At the top of the mast are cameras, which the city claimed would be used to make the area safer.
It is believed that Tozi Mthethwa, the city’s head of communications, explained that the cameras would be monitored on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year.
However, according to Rickson, neither of the cameras actually point in any of the known exit routes of criminals.
It is alleged that Mthethwa told residents that the mast was a part of the city’s plans to make Durban a safe city, but she reportedly did not tell residents that the same structure would serve as a cellphone mast. She allegedly said the cameras would have licence-plate recognition.
According to the residents, there was no consultation with them about the mast.
“Even our ward councillor did not know about this and usually they are told first about happenings in their ward.
“One of the workers told the councillor he should go to the city hall and find out what his superiors had agreed on,” Rickson said.
McCallum said there were many reports on the health implications for people living in close proximity to cellphone masts.
Rickson said his wife had been complaining that she was unable to sleep at night.
He said he was concerned about the effects that the mast would have on the pupils at a nearby primary school.
Residents took to Facebook yesterday, condemning the action of the municipality for not engaging with them before putting up the mast.
In the Glenwood area, there are at least 10 antennae, with a tower in Merebank and another in Woodhurst in Chatsworth - all without having undergone the necessary public participation process.
The Daily News asked the municipality about claims that Mthethwa had concealed the truth from residents, and asked if a normal public participation process had been followed, but there was no response at the time of going to print.
Councillor Mkhipheni Ngiba referred all questions to Fawzia Peer, the city’s deputy mayor who also manages the portfolio of disaster management.
Peer said the cell tower had already been in existence. She said the CCTV camera was mounted on the cell tower so another pole did not have to be put up.
“The mast in Clair Avenue was there for many months. All that was done was to erect a new pole because of the CCTV cameras,” she said.