All in a day’s work for Daniel

Ballito local, Daniel Roth approached The Courier recently, claiming that the public stairway leading down to the beach from the residential areas above downtown Ballito was in a dismal state.

The Courier paid a visit to the stairway in question, which runs down from Townsend Rd, through Ashley Rd, Patricia Rd, and Minerva South before ending on Sandra Rd opposite Counter Culture.

As chance would have it, Roth was on the stairway at the time – picking up litter.

“It’s just something I do from time to time,” he replied when asked why he was going out of his way to keep the area clean.

Roth, who turns 81 this year, was born in Pennsylvania in the USA and came to South Africa after retiring as his wife was working in Polokwane at the time.

He and his wife have lived in Ballito for three years and he said that he goes for walks and ends up picking up other people’s litter about three times every week.

“It is mostly plastic that I pick up, which is a big problem as this could end up in the ocean and cause serious problems.”

Roth said that he believes the way to combat littering is by introducing better environmental education in schools to tackle this issue at a young age.

“It would make extremely happy if other people would start doing what I do and picking up the litter.

The stairs meanwhile, are completely collapsing in the stretch between Minerva South Road and Patricia Road.

According to Roth, the damage was done during the memorable storm of 2007, which damaged quite a lot of infrastructure.

“These stairs have been in this state for a decade now,” said Roth.

The Courier has been in contact with KwaDukuza municipality to find out if they have any plans to repair the stairs.

KDM communications officer Sphelelo Ngobese said that he is still waiting for feedback from the relevant department before he could issue a statement.

Meanwhile, locals and tourists staying in the area will still have to climb over the broken, buckled stairs, if they wish to walk down to the beach.

If you are lucky though, you may run into Daniel Roth on the stairs, making his way up and down with some difficulty and picking up the rubbish that others so carelessly leave lying on the ground.

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