Some residents of Bayview, in Chatsworth, Durban, are against the eThekwini Municipality’s plans to turn a local playground into a housing project.
They said there had been talk of houses being built on the playground on Turnstone Avenue for about 76 families who lost their homes during the floods of April last year. The plan was to build 34 housing units.
Dennis Thomas, a resident, said the Bayview housing project would cause chaos in the area. He said the municipality had not cleaned the park for almost five years and residents had taken it upon themselves to have the grass cut so that children could play there.
"The playgrounds has been here for about sixty years. About a month ago some community members noticed that there were officials on the playground who seemed to be surveying the land for the housing development.
"We definitely don't want this. We already have sewer problems and we don’t know if they are going to run new lines or fit everything into the current line. There will be more traffic congestion and there's only one way to get on to the land. It's going to make things more chaotic," said Thomas.
He said residents preferred to adopt the playground and take care of it, instead of houses being built there.
Another resident, Dan Govender, said, losing the playground would have a negative impact on the community.
"It is a park and is for recreation purposes. Communities need green spaces. Can you image more houses in this already overly stretched community," he said.
Ward councillor Ganas Govender said he had only recently found out about the housing project and that he was not included in the initial discussions.
"About a month ago, a map was leaked by the engineering department to the community. This was posted in a community chat group. That was the first time I picked it up. The municipality never communicated this to me. I knew nothing about this plan but I told the community members on the chat that I would investigate it.
"It was a provincial map so our member of provincial legislature, Marlaine Nair, wrote a letter to the MEC for human settlements on March 20. We questioned how the project was brought into the area and why the ward councillor (being myself) was not consulted. Two days after sending the letter, I received a call from the eThekwini Municipality housing department saying that they wanted to meet with me. We met on March 24 with a representative from the provincial government and a representative from the eThekwini housing department. That is when I was officially told about the project,“ said Govender.
"I registered my disappointment with them because they should have come to me first. I have a responsibility to then inform the community. I questioned if they have completed the environmental tests and infrastructure study. They said that they were still working on it and that they only did a soil test," said Ganas.
He added that the project was aimed at housing victims of the floods who were living at the Bayview Community Hall.
"I don't even know who these beneficiaries are. The protocols of vetting the beneficiaries were not done. I've registered my objection to the project with the parks department. I will be hosting a community meeting and will take the feedback from the community to the relevant departments," said Ganas.
Response to questions sent to the municipality’s communications unit was not forthcoming at the time of publication.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE