Crumbling Pikitup Norwood depot boundary wall needs adequate support
Norwood – This wall should be a four-course wall built with brick force and sluices to withstand the build-up of water.
Norwood Pikitup depot’s wall collapses yearly after heavy summer rains and a local resident says this can be fixed permanently if the contractor does the right thing.
Joe Di Ragoe, a resident of Norwood, said with climate change and the results of heavy rain in Johannesburg, the wall has collapsed for the last three consecutive years.
“I’m willing to wager a bet with any takers that come heavy downpours this summer, the wall will come tumbling down resulting in the destruction of properties again, thus the contractor employed by the council is assured of a job,” said Di Ragoe.
“If one looks carefully at the wall, no provision was made to accommodate the build-up of water.”
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He highlighted that there are no sluices that let excess water flow through and adds that, also, the wall build is not strong enough to withstand the build-up of water.
Though the wall is a double wall, however, Di Ragoe said no brick force was used in its construction to make it stronger.
“This wall should be a four-course wall built with brick force and sluices to withstand the build-up of water,” he said.
“Besides this, the stormwater drainage system for the whole of Johannesburg no longer works effectively and this is because, for the last 25 years, they have never been cleaned out.”
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He said the stormwater drains and sewers are so blocked that they can barely cope with these heavy downpours.
In order to address this problem, he suggested teams with ramrods are employed to clean out the drainage system on a regular basis.
“The current mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, has endeavoured to tackle this problem by encouraging the community to clean up the Braamfontein Spruit. This is good but he needs to go deeper in resolving this problem and employ teams with ramrods to clean out the stormwater drains and sewer systems.”
Details: Joe Di Ragoe 081 587 7022.
