LETTER: What’s your plan, ward councillors?

Johan Verdoorn writes a letter to all Benoni ward councillors:

In late 2023, I moved from Brakpan to Benoni for many reasons, but also because the complex in which I reside, was always appealing to me as a retirement option.

I grew up in the East Rand and lived in Brakpan all my life. It was always a challenge to deal with the Brakpan jokes and the fact that Brakpan was considered to be the downtown area of the East Rand.

Notwithstanding, one is always proud of the place in which you grew up from childhood, and naturally always contributed towards making the town one that a person could be proud of.

I thought that this is what I would continue doing in my new home town Benoni, hence the reason why I am writing this letter and to sensitise you to the fact that Brakpan in general is in a better condition than Benoni.

It is really appalling to think that I expected to make a move for the better, but am disappointed to note how bad a place Benoni actually is when considering the poor state of the town, the condition of roads, lack of service delivery in some areas, water and electricity supply, to name a few.

What concerns me the most is that the lack of services, especially infrastructure maintenance, in particular the roads and robots, places my life and that of others in serious jeopardy on a daily basis.

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Yes, I understand that we have had some serious rain over the past months, but some degradation has been noted since I moved here in August 2023.

I have reported certain of the issues to council and to DA councillors on several occasions yet nothing has improved.

Let me mention the serious potholes on major routes that have not been fixed, and some intersections where one is in serious danger of either a head-on collision or serious damage to one’s vehicle due to the serious degradation, and here I mention in particular the Great North intersection with Mimosa Road.

I also mention the potholes on Oak Avenue, Stokroos Street where the surface is crumbling up, Mercury and the approach to Atlas Road, the lack of working robots along Great North Road that have been out for most of the last couple of months.

Not to mention Snake Road and the intersection at Dubai Centre.

I know that there will be the excuse that some of the roads mentioned fall within the responsibility of the province, but that is no valid reason.

I also mention the increase in crime, vagrants and beggars living under the bushes, where they inject themselves with drugs in plain sight of the public and litter wherever they go. This was also reported but with no success of action … again!

In some areas the stench of sewage lingers in ones nostrils, and one thinks of how harmful the environment is to the resources such as water that we depend on, and how disrespectful it is that the council reneges on its accountability to ensure that problems such as this are avoided and rectified as they occur.

I suppose I can continue writing about everything that is wrong all day, but I raise the very important question regarding taxes earned by the council from local homeowners and businesses, and how these taxes are applied.

Perhaps there should be some mobilisation to demand forensic audits, re-direction of taxes where an established working group is formed, to hire competent companies to fix this town that seems to be going backwards at an alarming rate.

I know there is always the call for residents to be active in the process. But really? Why are we paying taxes?

Lastly, can councillors really be more transparent to their constituents, provide more feedback and especially do what they were elected for regarding what plans and actions are in place to restore Benoni to an acceptable standard.

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