Edenglen resident, Mr Glen Talbot, has described a paint job by council contractors as disgusting after they left an entire street a mess.
On Tuesday last week, Mr Talbot was shocked to find his driveway and outside lawn splattered with silver and black paint.
Contractors tasked with re-painting streetlight poles on Vermeulen Avenue haphazardly left black paint on Mr Talbot’s lawn and silver paint splattered on driveways and electrical boxes.
“My driveway is covered in silver paint splatters and it would appear my lawn was used for brush cleaning. There was also no obvious attempt made to create a straight line where the black meets the silver on the poles.
“A walk down the street revealed the same scene at every light pole,” he said.
Mr Talbot feels employees responsible for the mess “should be fired or at the very least, severely reprimanded for such shocking work”.
“They should be instructed to clean up the paving and electrical boxes in their own time and at their own cost before being paid for the job,” said Mr Talbot.
Among the concerns raised when he contacted the NEWS, was how employees or private contractors were being screened before they are appointed.
“What training is provided? Does council have quality standards in place? What supervision takes place? And what repercussions are there for sub-standard work?” asked Mr Talbot.
He also questioned if there was really a need to re-paint the streetlight poles.
“They looked fine before the paint job. Now they look a mess,” he said.
The NEWS sent an enquiry for comment to the communications and marketing department of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM).
In response to questions asked, the NEWS was told an inspection was carried out and it was agreed that the work done was “not according to EMM specification and standards”.
“A meeting has been scheduled with the relevant parties on-site and this mess will be rectified at their own time and costs. All projects and jobs get inspected on completion and no payment is made before the job has been inspected,” was the response from the department.
