As soon as I see a ‘Sold’ sign on a house in the Northern Durban area my heart drops as the chances are, as soon as the new occupants move in, so do the tree fellers who are littering our curbs with their signs and ‘weapons of destruction’, and before we know it, beautiful old trees which have graced the gardens for many years, are chopped down without a second thought.
Drive through our once green suburbs and you will find tracts of bareness.
Question? There are a great number of beautiful old trees being felled which once graced our curb-sides and gardens and I would be interested to learn as to whether this is legal.
If I have been informed correctly it is illegal to cut down a tree on a curb-side without municipal permission, as this land does not belong to the house owner. In which case how come so many are being destroyed?
When the rest of the world is planting trees, Africa is busy in felling. What about oxygen? What about our conservation? Perhaps in order to protect our trees before we become like an oasis, we should have a ‘tree report line’ with a heavy penalty for breaking the law.
And while on a moaning mission, why is it that our open spaces are being littered with rubbish? We never used to have bags of refuse, old plastic buckets, rubble, paint tins etc. dumped on our open areas, but now it is a common sight, as is spillage left after the garbage collection day.
Where is our pride in beautiful Durban North? It only takes a few minutes for an occupant to keep the curb-side outside of our homes litter free.
We selected to live in the Northern suburbs because it was beautiful, clean and green. It is a privilege to live here so please bear this in mind, fight to stop the felling of our trees and take pride in cleaning up around our homes.
It takes only a few minutes but leaves a lasting impression as we travel through.
Juliet Seidl
Durban North
