MORNINGSIDE Primary School recently revamped its netball court, with spectator seats and fresh embellishments, and was preparing for its now-suspended grand opening next month. That excitement wore off after the rains on Thursday and Friday left the courts damaged.

The new retaining wall and fencing were washed away and the court was covered in heaps of sand. This, according to the school’s SGB vice chairperson, Janita Joshua, dashes all hope for the netball team and hits hard on the school’s finances following the unexpected disaster.
The rains uprooted the huge trees and the sandbank collapsed, resulting in the collapse of the netball court fence and the entire structure.

“We have been hounding the municipality to address the issue of the stormwater drain since 2018. And when the 2022 floods came, we could see the damage looming, as the aftermath saw flooding into our tennis court. We sought to undertake a clean-up and to restore our court but the underlying issue was not resolved.
“Every time the rain falls, we are thrown into fear of what the damage would be. We are grateful that no one has been injured due to this negligence. It was a dampening experience for our netball team who had to make alternative means to practise in makeshift spots at the school. These spaces are very small and not very conducive to proper practice sessions and training,” said Joshua.

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As a solution, Joshua reckons the municipality has to pay 100% attention to repairing the damaged stormwater drain. “We appreciate the support we have received from the nearby community, parents and the school management during the crisis and we would urge more support from other community members and sponsors to lend a hand,” ended Joshua.

Local councillor, Ernest Smith, highlighted that in 2022 the floods caused erosion and damage to that specific area. “In 2023 a burst water pipe caused a large amount of water to pool, and with that section of Sir Arthur being the lowest point, water naturally found a way to move which caused severe amounts of erosion to the bank in question. With the latest downpour, the amount of water unfortunately undermined the rest of the bank which we see now.

“The city has to do predictions of water movement and design stormwater systems that should be able to cope with the downpours we experienced. This means installing a fairly large stormwater drain which channels the water to the coastal water system and takes it to the harbour,” added Smith.

He concluded that if this issue is not addressed urgently, large-scale erosion will inevitably occur and flood the school, which has spent a considerable amount of resources clearing and preparing for the last two incidents.
Gugu Sisilana, the City’s spokesperson, this week indicated that eThekwini Municipality has allocated approximately R10b to rebuild water, electricity, and solid waste management infrastructure.

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