Bring back the Colenso of yesteryear

Those who live in the small town of Colenso are fighting to bring back the glory days of the past.

For this reason, residents organised a meeting at ML Sultan Colenso Primary School and also invited Ladysmith’s Cllr Abbas Warasally to attend so they could discuss all the issues they have and see if their problems can be remedied. Those at the meeting all felt that their town is slowly dying due to neglect.

In the good old days, they had one of the neatest, cleanest towns in the area, and now they are facing problems like incomplete tarred roads and housing.

Pavements and gutters are in a shocking condition, and manhole covers are constantly being stolen, which poses a danger to pedestrians. The playground and soccer field are not user-friendly, and the town doesn’t have its own dump site. People pleaded for a mobile clinic to visit once a week and help those in need of medical attention.

Colenso has no fire truck or ambulance, and community members have to wait for out-of-town assistance all the way from Ladysmith. In the event of an emergency, it would be too late to help.

Johannes de Jager from Colenso, who runs Fire and Emergency Services, does his bit to provide a quick response. He attends to accidents and fires in the area, but needs funding in order to buy a fire truck and send people on courses so they can help him out in emergencies.

Colenso doesn’t even have an electrical department that can fix their power problems 24 hours a day.

The main problem the community faces is the sewer pumps that don’t work. This means that their sewage flows directly into the river system.

Cllr Warasally will be trying his very best to aid the community of Colenso and help them get back on track.

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