Azalea residents fight for their community

Residents of Azalea are fed up with the neglect of their neighbourhood. They took Standerton Advertiser on a trip through Azalea on March 12 to tackle the issues.

According to the Khomani-San community of Azalea, they had a meeting with Executive Mayor Sifiso Mngemezulu on February 22, where they brought several shortcomings of Azalea to his attention.

“He was accommodating and promised that we will work together to rehabilitate the area,” said Wilson van Zyl, chief of the Khomani-San.

Van Zyl pointed out key problems that affect every resident in the area. Elderly residents face dangers all around.

“Most of the community finds their way around by walking, but the paths they need to take to get to the shops and back home are inaccessible to them,” explained Van Zyl.

A large ditch in the open field, which used to be a park between Azalea Combined School and the church, hinders their path.

The ditch has a constant stream of effluent flowing through it. According to Van Zyl, the wastewater flows directly into the Vaal River. Elderly people often fall into the ditch and are injured.

“We had to take the situation into our own hands. I often enable our younger community members to build a makeshift bridge out of stones to make it more accessible,” added Van Zyl.

However, this is not a sustainable solution as the stones are swept away by the rain. Van Zyl noted that a cement pipe had been lying near the ditch for several months, unused.

He believes that an easy solution would be to cut the pipe in half and create a bridge over the ditch. Furthermore, the roads in Azalea are a disaster.

According to Van Zyl, the Lekwa Local Municipality would often do work on the sewerage system which requires them to dig open roads.

“They complete the work and leave piles of rubble in the road. They never come back to restore the road,” added Van Zyl.
Once again, the community enables their youth to fix problems caused by Lekwa.

Van Zyl explained that the community came together to fix the entrance of Angelier Street, using bricks and stones to cover up the ditches caused by Lekwa. He said Azalea used to have an industrial waste bin, but it was removed for reasons unknown.

“Several people who we do not recognise from the community, dump their waste in the open field next to the United Apostolic Faith Church,” explained van Zyl.

The Khomani-San believe that this would not be a problem if the bin was not removed. Another issue is the removal of playground equipment from the Azalea park. According to Van Zyl, the playground equipment was removed from the park without warning.

“Now our children have to play in the waste water running through the park because they have no other entertainment,” added Van Zyl.

Deforestation in the park also seems to be a problem the Azalea residents face. Van Zyl admitted that the park used to be lush and full of trees, but has been greatly impacted through years of deforestation.

“It is heartbreaking to see the community that we built and grew up in such a state,” concluded Van Zyl.

The Lekwa Local Municipality did not provide comment at the time of going to print.