Fish Eagle residents voice their concern
Last Friday thousands of South Africans celebrated Human Rights Day, however, for some Fish Eagle residents, there was little to happy about.
MALALANE – Last Friday thousands of South Africans celebrated Human Rights Day, however, for some Fish Eagle residents, there was little to happy about. They felt not much was being done to uphold their rights as property owners and residents.
This came to light when one of them voiced his frustrations regarding their health and safety.
Among the concerns mentioned, were vacant stands that were not being maintained and have reach a point where the grass was overlapping onto the road.
Another was that of the sewage overflowing onto the Witkruisarend Street, which has not been repaired for more than three years.
“I have been living here for almost eight years now, and it is always a struggle to get the municipality to address certain matters. My one concern is that of vacant stands which are not being maintained, and the grass is growing to be as high as trees. This puts us at a risk of being victims of theft as we can hardly see anything at night. We have also on several occasions seen a large snake going to the other side of the road, where the grass is much taller.
“On top of all this there is overflowing sewage; there was waste all over the road due to the heavy rain. Every time we report this to the municipality, we are told to inform the ward councillor, which I feel is not fair. As taxpaying property owners, we have the right to have our problems addressed. This is not a political matter, but one concerning our rights,” the resident said.
Responding to questions posed by Corridor Gazette to the municipality, spokesman Mr Cyril Ripinga said he would be following up on the progress of repairing the damaged road with the relative department, and see to it that the overflowing sewage problem was addressed.
“That matter of the damaged road has been brought to our attention and we are attending to it, however, I will follow up on the progress with the relative department. With regard to the vacant property stands, we intend on implementing a new system whereby we will maintain them and then bill the property owners. This is something we intend on doing all over Nkomazi and Hectorspruit.
Due to the heavy rain, the sewerage system was blocked which resulted in waste overflow, but that has been fixed and we are currently working on a permanent solution,” said Ripinga.
