Durban - A block in Umbilo was out of power on Wednesday morning after thieves stole cable from a substation on an overgrown piece of land that resident Mark Kritzinger has been asking eThekwini Municipality to allow him to grow vegetables on.
The rejection slip sent by the city’s Solid Waste Department in September said his application to grow vegetables there had been declined “because the land belongs to Electricity”.
Kritzinger said he also wanted to keep the bush down for the sake of security.
“I was actually told after numerous meetings with the municipality that I was going to get permission under the Adopt-A-Spot scheme to lease the property and then the Electricity Department decided, no they are putting a stop to it and they cancelled everything,” he said, pointing out how overgrown the property is.
“Security-wise. Rats. Snakes. The smell of rotting vegetation. They are all a big, big problem,” said a furious Kritzinger.
“Security would obviously be less of a problem if all this bush was cut and the property was open. I am not saying there’s not going to be issues but a criminal can’t just duck away if somebody passes by or a dog barks.”
The Electricity Department was quick to repair the damage in the substation, he said.
The Independent on Saturday has asked the eThekwini Municipality, under which the Electricity Department falls, for comment.
The Independent on Saturday