Safety concerns as Umbilo building crumbles
72-year-old Desre' Klooper had a close call in February of this year when she was cleaning in her garden and part of the building fell off right next to her from the second storey.
UMBILO resident Desre’ Klooper, who resides in a low-income municipality-owned block of flats in Umbilo, says the municipality is not doing their job to properly maintain the property. Desre’ has been living in a block of flats called Wolseley Court for more than 20 years and says she’s seen the flats deteriorate due to a lack of maintenance and proper upkeep.
“Our flats are referred to as Old Umbilo. There are three flat blocks in our fenced area: Wolseley Court, Buller Court and Robert Court. We are each given a shed as residents, and all the doors to the sheds are rotten. This is because there are so many clogged drains, and they leak down the walls of the flat building. We have brought this to the attention of the municipality on many occasions. Some of us have a real battle to open and close our shed doors,” said Desre’.
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The 72-year-old had a close call in February of this year when she was cleaning in her garden and part of the building fell off right next to her from the second storey. “Large pieces of cement are falling down and off the building. It almost hit me, and I worry for elderly people like myself, but I also worry about the children who play in the garden – they could be seriously injured.”
Desre’s daughter, Jay, says she worries about her mother’s safety constantly. “I can’t be here all the time, and the state of the building and the apartments that we rent are getting to a point where it’s dangerous. The floors have been eaten up by borer, badly, and it’s at a point where we need to watch where we step or our feet will go right through.”
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Jay, who works in retail, says she feels the residents are being taken advantage of. “A lot of us have low-income jobs, and we live here for that very reason. We have nowhere else to go, and I think because the municipality knows that – they don’t listen when we complain. There are things we can do ourselves, like cut the grass and so on, but when our safety is at risk, we need them to come in and assist us with these issues.”
The eThekwini Municipality was not available for comment at the time of going to print.
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