Unfinished jobs leave verges in a mess
Residents say the municipality is not cleaning up the rubble left by workers fixing roads
SOME residents in Morningside have reacted angrily to what they say is a trend of “poor workmanship” by the ethekwini Municipality’s road maintenance department.
Their latest complaint relates to the municipality’s failure to clean up rubble and unused tar left on verges on Chadwick Road.
Residents say the municipality is not conducting monitoring and evaluation of its service delivery efforts and the problem has become more apparent since roadwork began more than a year ago.
Jackie Rabie, a guest house owner, says the shoddy workmanship was attended to only after residents complained.
And he found it strange that the municipality encourages residents to adopt verges in their neighbourhoods, yet it is the one which is failing to keep verges clean.
“The haphazard maintenance work done at times is an eyesore. The city’s senior officials need to assess work that has been completed,” he said.
A Mountain View Avenue resident, Martin Evans, says roads in his neighbourhood are riddled with potholes, but the city is reluctant to complete the required repair work.
“This is an ongoing problem, and it is about time the roads department properly finished a job it started.
“It is a very short road, but it gets very busy because we have a guest house and B&BS there. It’s confusing why the city can’t fix the road at one go, instead of doing bits of work at a time,” says Evans.
City spokesperson Tozi Mthethwa said the roads and stormwater maintenance department’s investigations showed that rubble on the pavement was not left by municipal workers.
“Residents on the corner of Earl Haig Road had asphalt work or repairs done on their property and rubble was left behind. The matter will be addressed with the resident accordingly,” she said.
Mthethwa advised residents to contact the department on the ethekwini call centre at 080 1313 013 about complaints. People living in Morningside want the municipality to help remove rubble they say it left on their verges.