Sundowner resident helps City Parks out
SUNDOWNER – A resident donated petrol to the City Parks team working along the Sundowner spruit.
David Strachan from Sundowner was shocked when he found out that employees of City Parks were cutting grass using slashers and travelling in vehicles with expired licence discs.
He said he was pleased when City Parks had eventually heeded his request to cut the grass along the spruit in Sundowner Park. “I had to fight and I got it right eventually.”
He told Randburg Sun that he had donated 10 litres of petrol to help City Park’s employees fill their grass cutters as they were using slashers. “I think it is outrageous that City Parks management would send their staff out to work without the necessary tools.”
According to Strachan, when the grass was high it posed a danger to people, especially to domestic employees, who in the past have been mugged as they pass by the park.
In response, City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley said the work was undertaken by City Parks conservation team along the Sundowner Spruit. “The team is committed to expediting services, even in the absence of the relevant tools to address service delivery issues. The use of manual tools, like a slasher, is common in the rollout of horticultural services, particularly to tackle hardy invasive plants and overgrowth.
“This also results in less downtime with machines.”
She confirmed that the team had commenced the work using slashers and then with the assistance of Strachan, proceeded with added maintenance along the Spruit. Moodley said these were some of the unfortunate challenges experienced by the teams on the ground, particularly over the peak season when the problems were further compounded by the rains.
She urged residents to be patient with City Parks that was committed to ensuring service delivery took place, no matter what the challenges were. She said they were working closely with the City of Johannesburg’s Licensing Department on the issuing of licence renewals and this process was 90% complete.
“Licences were issued at the beginning of January and should be completed at the end of February. This is also relative to the issuing of petrol for handheld machinery stemming delays in procurement and payment to service providers.”
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