Despite the fact that the municipality recently spent large sums of money fencing the Piet Viljoen Park in Fochville,
the rest of the facility has fallen into disrepair.
Residents have been complaining about the state of this park, the biggest of its kind in the Fochville area, for
years. The park, named after a former mayor of Fochville, Mr Piet Viljoen, was opened by him in 1992. Long time residents of the town can still remember the good times they spent at the park.
In addition to the normal braai facilities, there was also a playground and a putt-putt mini golf course.
For most of the past decade, the park has, however, been in a state of disrepair.
While the municipality promised to restore the park to its former glory and spent R2,5 million on palisade fencing
around the facility in 2014, nothing was done to prevent vandals from entering through the front gate.
Despite the expensive fence, there are also other places where people can walk in and out freely at all hours of the
day.
During the past week, residents of the area complained that although the weather is again ideal for spending
time in the open, facilities like the Piet Viljoen Park cannot be used because they are in such a bad state.
When the Herald visited the park this week, all the buildings and equipment had been vandalised. Every window
pane and frame had been removed and some of the buildings were broken down half way.
Some of the concrete blocks from a bridge over a stream had even been dislodged and thrown into the water.
The putt-putt course was just a skeleton of what it used to be an ideal family activity. The playground had also been vandalised.
Having witnessed the state of decay, the Herald asked the Merafong City Local Municipality about the situation
on Tuesday. The Herald wanted to know, among other things, whether the facility would ever be restored for
public recreation again.
“The repairs to the damaged facility will be added to the IDP of the municipality. Repairs will be undertaken once
a budgetary provision is available,” was the only response that the municipal spokesperson was prepared to give
this week.