DURBAN - Motorists and residents using Isipingo Main Road, south of Durban, have urged the eThekwini Municipality to unblock stormwater drains because the road and pavement is covered in water.
The road now re-named Phila Ndwandwe Road has been covered by pools of water for more than two weeks. Several shops and the Isipingo train station have been affected.
A minibus taxi driver, who asked not to be named and who uses the road daily, blamed the city for not clearing drains of debris regularly. The driver said the flooding has caused problems for the flow of traffic during peak hour. Passengers could not alight from the minibus because of the knee high water flowing over pavements.
The driver called on the councillor and the municipality to intervene and check why workers responsible have not been able to fix the problem.
“We are having a problem with this road. The road surface has been covered with water for more than two weeks and the municipality has done nothing about it. Apart from that this town seemed to be neglected. It is filthy and roads are in a bad condition,” said the driver.
A street vendor who has a fruit and vegetable stall said it is not clear where water came from but he suspects that it could be a burst pipe because the water never vanishes although the weather has been hot with no rain. He added that the problem has affected their businesses a lot.
EThekwini deputy mayor Philani Mavundla, who is also Housing and Infrastructure Committee chairperson, said he will get the relevant department to attend to the problem.
Isipingo Business Forum chairperson Junaid Iqbal said the water levels have risen over the weeks and it had nothing to do with recent rainfall. Iqbal said they were not getting any feedback from the City on a solution.
He had seen an eThekwini Municipality team in the area but he was not certain of they could find the cause of the stagnant water. He said previously the team had left the area without resolving the problem.
Daily News