Metro trees damage privately owned properties

Two homeowners of Boksburg are pleading to the metro to fix their properties that were damaged by trees on the pavement.

Andries Mofokeng, who lives on Market Street in Boksburg, said a tree fell on his property and damaged his security wall three years ago. When he reported the incident, the metro promised to fix his wall but it still hasn’t been fixed.

“On September 19 another tree fell on my property and damaged my wall again. The metro again promised to fix it and that never happened. I just want my wall to be fixed as the metro promised,” said Mofokeng.

He mentioned that metro just comes to his property every time and assesses the damages then makes empty promises.

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“I’m no longer satisfied with living here in Boksburg, I’m even selling my house. There’s another tree that is slanting to my property now and it is likely to fall on it.

“We have informed the metro about the tree and the metro is not taking action to prevent the disaster from happening.”

He added that when he went to the Parks Department in Boksburg to alert them about a branch that fell from a tree, the officials allegedly told him that criminals had stolen their equipment and some of the essential parts of their trucks.

Joni Simons, who lives on Cedar Avenue in Plantation, said the metro was tardy in cutting a tree that was slanting on her property. When the metro cut the tree on April 25, the branches of the tree fell on her property and damaged her carport, the outside living room and the security wall.

“The metro came to our property and assessed the damages and asked us to get quotations from various construction companies. We did as instructed and sent the quotations to the metro. The metro promised to hire one of those companies to fix the damages, but that never happened,” said Simons.

The Boksburg has sent an enquiry to the City of Ekurhuleni regarding these incidents and is waiting for a response.

Important information from the metro

According to the HoD of the Parks Department, Emmanuel Maphorogo, the metro has trained officials who can maintain the environment.

“Trees play a vital part in the cooling and conditioning of the metro’s air. Dead trees, problematic tree roots, tree stumps or those situated on the sidewalks that present a danger to the public will be pruned or removed by the metro at its cost,” said Maphorogo.

He added that anyone found removing trees belonging to the metro, whether accidentally or wilfully, will be charged to the value of the tree. According to him, contravening municipal by-laws is punishable by a fine of up to R2 000 or a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment or both.

“Trees are a source of life as they breathe out oxygen that we breathe in. When residents hire untrained tree cutters who do not have the appropriate equipment or training to cut down trees, they are likely to harm people or damage other people’s properties,” explained Maphorogo.

“Every tree planted is an investment into future generations’ environment and helps guarantee a cleaner and greener environment for all.”

All requests can be logged via the call centre at 0860 543 000, Twitter @CoE_call_centre, email call.centre@ekurhuleni.gov.za or My CoE app.

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