South Coast Fever

Potholes drive tourists away from Woodgrange

According to residents, Casuarina Drive in Woodgrange has 210 potholes on a 600m stretch.

Damaged tyres and bent rims as result of potholes are driving tourists away from holiday establishments on Casuarina Drive in Woodgrange.

Real estate agent Haley Clark, who has lived on Casuarina Drive for over two years, said it was the 210 potholes on the 600m stretch of road that have driven away holidaymakers.

She said the potholes are 30cm deep.

Clark said Mzimayi River Lodge and the Woodgrange Chalets are on Casuarina Drive.

“This affects tourism because people do not want to drive down this road that has disintegrated over the years; they would rather book somewhere else. There is a property I sold for just over R1.3m; its value was over R1.5m, but because of the road, we had to reduce the price. This has now become unacceptable,” she said.

Residents say some potholes are 30cm deep.

She added that residents have reported this to several people, including the Ward 13 councillor, Tessa Perryman.

“An email was sent to Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (RNM), but a response was not received. I need RNM to step up and get the job done. We recently got quotes from private companies. It would cost residents over R20 000 to fix the potholes, but we pay rates; fixing the road is not our responsibility,” she said.

Wayne McConnell, one of the owners of Mzimayi River Lodge, said they get complaints about the road all the time.

“We have had two tyre punctures and bent rims. We had to pay one guy R1200 to get his tyre fixed. This is affecting our business. We used to have bikers booking with us, but they do not want to come here anymore. They say their bikes can’t get down this road,” he said.

Disgruntled Casuarina Drive residents then put together a petition for Perryman to hand over to RNM.

Speaking to Fever, Perryman said due to the ongoing strike at RNM, no one was available to receive the petition.

“Over the years, I have had numerous discussions with residents regarding this road. Since the start of my term as Ward 13 councillor, I requested numerous times for the head of the Department of Technical Services in RNM to come to on-site inspections of Ward 13 roads. He told me that he does not go to on-site inspections and that there is a road manager I must deal with,” she said.

Perryman added that in November 2023, she held a site inspection with the RNM road manager.

“Some work was done long after this meeting. Since this work was done, this road has deteriorated further. All tar roads in Ward 13 need pothole repair. The excuse of no budget for road repairs is not acceptable. Ratepayers are paying, yet no service is being received,” she said.

With the ongoing labour strike in RNM, KZN Cogta MEC, Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi, said he was disappointed to hear that South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise (SCTIE) talking about its collaborations with RNM instead of the tourism that was destroyed over the festive season.

Buthelezi was speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting at the RNM council chambers recently.

“I received many calls in December from owners of holiday establishments who had cancellations. Most of them did not get tourists because of the collapse of services in this municipality. I am urging SCTIE to be on the side of tourism and not of the municipality. As government, our priority is to grow the economy of this municipality and save jobs. The South Coast is the jewel of tourism in KZN; we cannot allow that industry to collapse because of problems in the municipality,” he said.

Haley Clark wants Ray Nkonyeni Municipality to fix the potholes. PHOTOS: NTANDOYENKOSI DLAMINI

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