Residents want metro to take responsibility for fixing reserve road

Residents of Van der Schyff Street in Annlin in the north of Pretoria are upset and feel the metro is shifting its responsibility to fix a road that a contractor left unrehabilitated in a local nature reserve around 10 years ago.

The reserve was previously used by nature lovers and bikers when they still had regular access to the area.

“It is unacceptable that this area is left like this. Residents have a right to access parks and reserves, and currently, this area is unsafe and an eyesore.

Not to mention the fact that this is a huge fire hazard. It seems that the political will is lacking to rehabilitate the area. Even just 15 years ago, this would have been unheard of. One can only imagine there was a lack of management of the contractors,” said a resident who wanted to remain anonymous.

The question on the residents’ minds is: Why were the contractors not made to rehabilitate the area by the metro?

Residents feel that such rehabilitation most likely was part of the project scope. So, why did it not take place?

According to residents, when the metro built the new reservoir, they scraped a road to the construction area. The scraping of this road destroyed the area, making it inaccessible.

“I understand that the area and reserve are not owned by the municipality, but they executed the work in the reserve. The area is completely inaccessible now due to the fact that the municipality and, by extension, the contractor have scraped an area into a very bad road and left it as is without rehabilitating the area.

It is unheard of that such damaging work is done in and on a nature reserve and that the area is not rehabilitated afterwards,” said an angry resident.

To many of the residents, the area in the reserve has become a breeding place for illegal squatting and loitering as the fence beside the road over the mountain is slowly disintegrating.

They feel it is only a matter of time before the area becomes a security threat to all residents.

“The scraping done onto the surfaces of the land by the road contractor was metres high in places,” said another resident.

“Bicycle trails in the reserve were sponsored by private companies but can now not be accessed from the Wonderboom gate to the reserve due to the damaging scrapings done by the metro’s contractor. The subsequent growth of weeds and bushes has also made the road totally unusable.”

The resident pointed out that when her family moved into Annlin in 2012, the portion of the nature reserve behind their house on Van der Schyff Street was accessible to residents. The school’s mountain bike club regularly used the beautiful routes through nature.

“It was so safe, we regularly hiked up to the reservoir,” said the resident.

Residents have tried to take the issue up with conservation organisations, as the area is part of the nature reserve.

“Our efforts have been unsuccessful to date. The reserve is home to numerous birds and wildlife. We frequently hear jackals. There are monkeys, monitor lizards, bush babies, owls, guinea fowls, dassies, partridge, not to mention all the other wild birds.”

Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the metro does not have a nature reserve in the Wonderboom (Annlin) area.

“The area in question is part of the Magaliesberg Protected Natural Environment,” he said.

The Magaliesberg Protected Environment (MPE) mainly incorporates the central core of the mountain range and stretches from Rustenburg to Pretoria.

It is a formally declared protected area under the National Environmental Management Protected Areas Act, of 2003.

The process for protection began in the 1960s when the public recognised it as a valuable natural resource, and by 1977, the Magaliesberg was declared a “Natural Area”.

The MPE falls under the Magaliesberg Biosphere, which is managed by a board of directors.

Several conservation groups and non-profit organisations have been given stewardship of the area by the biosphere.

Mashigo said that due to the construction of the reservoir, all uncontrolled access had to be closed as the area is a key provincial/municipal point because of its service in the water provisioning from the reservoir.

“The trails mentioned were not for bicycles but for horse patrols prior to the reservoir being built. However, residents can still access the existing trails from the Wonderboom Lapa through controlled access,” said Mashigo.

The Magaliesberg Biosphere was contacted for comment, but none was received by the time of publication.

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