I wish to complain about the abominable service Mogale City Council provides for the residents of Muldersdrift.
Being a DA candidate for the 2016 municipal elections, I have been visiting residents and businesses in the area, and I am becoming more and more aware of the extent to which our area has degraded and is becoming devalued. Having lived here for 30 years, I have seen how Muldersdrift was built up, and now is rapidly declining.
Firstly, it is difficult to drive to the police station because of the severe drop-off from the tar onto the dirt road that leads to the station. This is caused by the huge quarry trucks endlessly driving along the dirt road here. Cars with a low under-carriage are damaged, while cars with a higher suspension still struggle. The quarry is a developed business, so it is not going to go away. The roads department needs to extend the tar properly on to this road, if not all the way, at least up to the police station. The roads in the village are cracking and have severe potholes. Occasionally the roads department comes to fix these problems, but it is not repaired well enough to last. The same potholes and cracks keep recurring. The signage is falling off, and in some cases are incorrect. Towards the N14, from both sides of Muldersdrift is a T-junction sign. If anything is asking for an accident to happen, this is.
The council has been notified of the problem, but the signs have not been changed.
Further to this, a beautiful little village has been built in the middle of the town with green rooftops and white walls but it has been left empty and dormant for the last 15 years. Now it looks like a ghost town.
Behind the village next to the community church is a shebeen. This has been allowed to develop unchecked, and instead of disposing of its rubbish in a proper manner, they throw all their waste out the back door. This has led to a huge dump, which goes down the slope and into the Crocodile River. No wonder dead fish have been found floating in the river immediately downstream.
The same shebeen plays loud music most nights, disturbing residents and visitors at the two acclaimed venues and lodges opposite it.
Muldersdrift lies right next to the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Most people visiting the Cradle will go through Muldersdrift first. When considering the amount of litter lining our roads and pavements, the squalor of huts recently revealed at the four-way stop due to the tree felling and the general disrepair of the village, what kind of impression are we making on our visitors? If they even get as far as the Cradle, I doubt they’ll be marking this as a place to which they would return.
When is our ruling party going to do something right?
