Decorative touch to part of Albert Street destroyed
Efforts to beautify Estcourt are killed by municipal staff
The luscious aloe plants on the centre island along Albert Street have been destroyed; municipal staff were reportedly seen spraying them with a chemical.
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The aloe plants and decorative stones that line Albert Street were paid for by Mortimer Toyota when the car dealership underwent renovations in 2011. Speaking on behalf of the management and staff of Mortimer Toyota, Barend Hannekom said the initiative was taken as a step to beautify the town.
“We wanted to make the area look better and we received positive comments from locals,” he said… but this has come to an abrupt end. About three months ago, we saw the plants going down. I thought it was due to lack of rain, but it seems the municipality sprayed them with a pesticide. This caused the plants to die. There was no discussion with us; this is disappointing,” Mr Hannekom said.
“As a business, we take pride in our town and we are willing to contribute to make things better. We have to all work together and take pride in our town again,” he added.
Another concern raised is a skew light pole on the centre island, which has a camera attached to it.
“It’s been like that for months. We are concerned that the pole may fall onto a vehicle or passing person. When it’s windy, it’s scary! It will fall over one of these days,” Mr Hannekom pointed out.
All of these concerns were relayed to Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality. Municipal Manager Patrick Mkhize’s response makes no mention of the aloes being destroyed or why the business was not consulted. He does, however, acknowledge the dangerous pole.
“We have taken note of the skew pole, but unfortunately a bucket truck is needed to attend to it and our bucket truck was involved in an accident and is at the mechanic. As soon as the bucket truck is back, we will urgently attend to it,” commented Mr Mkhize.
SEE MORE: Step up and save Estcourt
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