Springs faces overgrowth emergency: Chamber urges businesses and residents to help
The overgrown grass has gotten out of hand and the chamber is taking an initiative to deal with it.
The Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce and Industry is rolling up its sleeves in a bid to tackle the thorny issue of overgrown grass in Springs.
This will be a possible collaborative effort with the Department of Parks and Recreation. It is no secret that the town has been faced with a problem that has worsened in recent months.
The overgrown grass all over Springs has presented not just an aesthetic problem but a safety hazard as well. Clr Mike du Toit has presented this case on multiple fronts, stating that through the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), something can be achieved.
In a recent speech, du Toit expressed his disgust at the state in which the town and Ekurhuleni as a whole has been reduced to.
“In my quite long life I have never seen our parks and roadsides in the absolutely disgraceful state that they are now in.
“We know of the dire situation of our finances, but, is it because overgrown vegetation is simply not regarded as very important that we are doing nothing about it?”
He goes on to mention that infrastructure is being threatened by the overgrowth of vegetation.
“You will see grass and weeds at waist height and higher, whilst along some of our most important transport arteries, the vegetation is encroaching on our roads, and trees are growing into our overhead cables.
“The jungle is closing in on our road and rail networks.”
Du Toit further adds that the root of the problem lies within the department tasked with maintaining the vegetation and the situation is even more frustrating as it does not require a lot of resources to fix.
“Our parks department depots have no PPE, no trucks and other essential equipment. People come to work and sit around doing nothing. The latest that we have heard is that those with PPE and equipment should hand that equipment over to the cemeteries clean-up teams.
“It is not just the cemeteries that are overwhelmed, and cleaning up vegetation should be fairly low hanging fruit to fix.
“It is not substations and pump stations requiring expensive technology. It is trucks, tractors, weed eaters and relatively unskilled labour that is needed.”
According to du Toit and the manager of the chamber, Barbara-Anne Day, the biggest problem with the vegetation is three-fold.
“Accident rates are higher because there is no visibility in most areas around the town, it is a safety concern not just for crime but for things such as snakes and bush fires are also a thing of concern.”
“We must not think that what happened in Southern California recently cannot happen here. Those that think vegetation control is not that important had better take note, the biggest cause of run-away fires is uncontrolled brush and not burning the necessary fire-breaks.”
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The chamber extends an invitation to private residents and businesses to join them in making a more better change to Springs.
“Residents and businesses can help ease the situation by just cleaning and maintaining the areas immediate to them.
“We know it is unfair because we all pay rates and these are part of the services due to us but until that issue can be resolved, we must all band together and do what we can,” says Day.
She adds that businesses can also be a part of the venture by bringing forward financial assistance or resources to get the project going.
“We as the chamber would like to know who would be prepared to commit cash or resources to such a venture to improve the Springs environment.
“This project can only succeed if we have wide support from businesses. We will, over the next month or so, try and cost the venture and will then ask for voluntary contributions to the cost of the venture.”
The main areas they are looking to tackle are the following:
• Paul Kruger Highway
• Ermelo Road
• Wit Road
• Nigel Road
• Tonk Meter Drive
• Industrial areas of Nuffield, New Era and Fulcrum.
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