Residents of Eersterust are calling for urgent action on a range of long-standing service delivery, housing, infrastructure and safety problems that reflects years of unresolved issues.

Community concerns include illegal dumping, broken streetlights, water infrastructure failures, electricity outages, the condition of the local cemetery, and the future of people living on an illegal land grab.

Illegal dumping, deteriorating water infrastructure, electricity failures, unsafe public spaces and weak enforcement remain central concerns.

With residents looking towards the November election, community leaders and councillors face increasing pressure to demonstrate progress on problems that have affected daily life in Eersterust for years.

DA provisional councillor Novina Pillay said several challenges still need to be addressed, and identified several issues she wanted resolved before the election in November.

Among her priorities is ensuring that Nantes residents receive the lease contracts they signed with the metro’s housing department about a year ago. According to Pillay, the residents have signed new lease agreements but still do not have the contracts in their possession.

She said there had been ‘so many excuses’ while the process had effectively stopped, with no movement on the matter.

Pillay also wants people living on the illegal land grab in Eersterust to be relocated to an area where they would be safe and have access to schools, clinics and public transport.

She said the issues affecting Riverside Flats also needed to be resolved and that residents should receive their title deeds.

“Ratepayers should receive the services for which they pay, including a clean ward, working streetlights and properly maintained infrastructure,” said Pillay.

She also wants the local cemetery to be clean, maintained, fenced off and safe.

The dysfunctional Helium Avenue reservoir is one of the major concerns raised by residents.

Pillay said the challenge could be addressed if vandalism was tackled as a priority by fencing off the reservoir and placing a functional security guard there.

According to Pillay, vandalism around the valves currently means the reservoir has to be operated manually to remain functional.
She said this situation was not in the best interests of the community.

Residents have also raised concerns about the water network.

Pillay said she had again reported a broken water pipe problem in Hearts Avenue during the third week of July, but said the response had been limited to grass being cut in the area while the actual problem remained unresolved.

Regarding the water network, Pillay said repeatedly repairing pipes was not a sustainable solution. Instead, she said attention needed to be given to a new pipe network.

A further concern is the condition of the cemetery. Pillay believes ‘functional security guards’ should be appointed, while grass should be cut more regularly and bushes trimmed to help combat crime in the cemetery.

Electricity supply has also become a major concern. Some sections of Eersterust recently spent 15 days without electricity, a problem Pillay said she had actively worked to resolve.

“We need an upgrade of the network and substations, and the blame game over the problem between Eskom and the metro must stop,” Pillay said.

Residents say their concerns extend beyond basic infrastructure. Illegal dumping remains a persistent problem, including an area opposite the New Apostolic Church and in Hans Coverdale Street East.

A community leader said the black refuse bins are, at times, used as a transport method for illegal dumping and are a major concern.

Residents are particularly angry about fellow residents who empty their refuse trolleys in front of other people’s homes, leaving those residents to deal with the consequences.

They have also complained that illegal dumping offences reported to the metro police are not followed up and that alleged offenders are not pursued, even when residents can provide evidence or when people are allegedly caught in the act.

DA councillor Benjamin Lawrence believes the community must take responsibility for educating residents about illegal dumping.

“The difficulty is nobody wants to take responsibility,” he said.

“We were all once proud to live in Eersterust. This pride must come back. We were never a community that had rats, but now, because of the dumping, they are very much present. It is time that we actively deal with this problem of illegal dumping as a community. No one person, no one institution will solve it.”

Lawrence said he was also concerned about the movement of municipal refuse trolleys.

“These trolleys belong only in front of a house or in the yard and should not be used all over Eersterust for other purposes. They should not be pushed around in the streets. It is not legal,” he said.

Residents say broken streetlights are another major safety concern, particularly for vulnerable groups who travel early in the morning or late at night to get to work.

One female resident described how, at 05:00, the only light available to her at a bus stop was the light from her cellphone.

Residents have also produced reference numbers for streetlights that they say were reported as broken as long as 10 years ago.

Another concern is the number of unregistered tuk-tuks travelling on Eersterust roads. Residents say some drivers operate irresponsibly and disregard traffic rules.

A community leader who did not want to be named said complaints were regularly forwarded to the metro police, but that no action was taken.

The current foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has also raised concern about the large number of stray livestock moving through open areas and streets.

Residents say the problem requires attention because roaming livestock creates health and safety risks in both residential areas and on roads.

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