Durban – Fed up with the ongoing issue of potholes in his area, a KwaDakuza resident has planted a banana tree in a pothole to get the municipality’s attention.
An angry Rishi Pooran said the problem of potholes had worsened in the past three years.
“Everytime there is a burst water pipe, the roads have to be broken to access the pipes,” he said.
Pooran said this occurred almost every week.
He attributed this to poor workmanship.
Pooran said there were two municipalities that serviced the Glenhills area.
“So the iLembe Municipality is in charge of fixing the water pipes, while the KwaDakuza Municipality is in charge of road maintenance.
“Once iLembe fixes the water, the roads are just left. I feel it is a lack of communication between the two municipalities that results in this problem.
“The workmanship is below standard.”
Pooran, who is part of the Glenhills and District Civic Association, and a resident for 29 years, said on Sunday morning he planted a banana tree in a pothole in one of the main roads in the area.
The picture went viral on social media.
“This road is a busy road. Both the primary and secondary school are on the same road.
“There is a church, mosque and temple and a local clinic so there is a lot of traffic.
He said the municipality did not contact him.
He read about their responses in other media outlets.
KwaDakuza Municipality spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said following reports that emanated from a social media post he, together with technicians, visited the affected areas.
“Our findings were that there are burst pipes that the district municipality needs to fix before we can attempt to do any work.
“The matter was not reported to KwaDukuza Municipality, so we wish to desist any suggestion that says we were told and kept quiet.
“We wish to place it on record that other potholes where there are no burst pipe issues have been attended to in the same community.
“Our technicians are already in discussion with iLembe to fix this problem.
“Whilst we understand that our communities are restless when it comes to such problems, we also wish for members of the community to refrain from installing objects on potholes, they should report the matter to Civil Engineering so that proper hoarding can be installed instead of installing objects that exacerbate the problem and can lead to fatalities.”
Elias Bhengu, Manager for Operations for the KwaDukuza area, said the road maintenace was the function of the KwaDukuza Local Municipality.
“Subsequently after a leak is repaired, iLembe District Municipality sends a job card to KwaDukuza for them to carry out the repairs on the roads.
’The two municipalities have a standing Memorandum of Understanding that deals with road repairs after damages caused by the repairs to the pipe breaks.
“Our turnaround time for leak or burst pipe repairs is guided by the nature of the repairs and we receive on average 1300 queries per month. This is caused, in the main, by ageing infrastructure which breaks due to water pressures.
“Our Water Conservation Water Demand Management program is dealing with such, through mains replacement projects. Projects are currently underway in ward 16 and ward 18 of KwaDukuza.”
IOL